Common sense

LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 50
Edited by £. Haldemaii- Julius

Common Sense

Thomas Paine

HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY
GIRARD, KANSAS

'IS. 'J. Marh'i

TEN GENT POCKET SERIES NO. 50

Edited by £. Haldeman-Julius

Common Sense

Thomas Paine

HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY
GIRARP, KANSAS

EXPLANATORY NOTICE.*

The North American Republic consists of
twenty-four regularly organized States, and an
immense extent of territory not yet formed
into States, which, with the exception of some
mountain ridges, is wholly susceptible of cul-
tivation. It contains upwards of two millions
of square miles, and is therefore thirteen times
as large as France, twenty-three times as large
as England, and would, were it peopled as
densely as these countries, contain FOUR HUN-
DRED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. It is watered on its
eastern, western, and part of its southern sides
by the ocean, and on part of its northern
frontier by immense lakes. It is intersected in

*This clear and concise statement of the origin
of the American war for independence is from an
edition of Common Sense published in 1848 by
J. Watson, 3 Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster
Row, London. At that time the English publish-
ers were permitted to print Paine's political
"writings unmutilated, as they now appear, with-
out molestation by the government: but the
early editions of both Common' Sense and the
Rights of Man were issued in a very imperfect
form to avoid prosecution; all adverse criticism
of the king or parliament, of tyrants and tyr-
anny, being- sternly suppressed. The vacant lines
in the pages of the edition of Common Serree
published by J. Almon, opposite Burlington-
house in Piccadilly, 1776, and the many sup-
pressed passages in the Rights of Man published
by H. D. Symonds, Paternoster-Row, 1792, of
J. S. Jordon, 166 Fleet-street, 1791, and many
others, are all mute yet eloquent witnesses of
the injustice and tyranny exercised by the Brit-
ish government in the 18th century. — Am. Pub.

4 COMMON SENSE

all directions by magnificent rivers, and has
more facilities for water conveyance than any
other continental country; it abounds in mines
and minerals, and produces everything neces-
sary for the sustenance and enjoyment of man-
kind.

The population of the United States has
been several times doubled in periods of less
than twenty-five years, it now contains up-
wards of twelve millions of people, and bids
fair at no very distant period to be more popu-
lous and powerful than any nation ever was.

Such is the present state, and such the pros-
pects of a nation originally settled by men who
either ftedj from religious intolerance and per-
secution to seek peace in the wilderness — by
men whose notions of liberty were too high to
permit them to endure the tyranny they were
subjected to at home, — or by men who sought
their fortunes as commercial speculators or
cultivators of the land. From Britons thus
circumstanced has sprung a people who have
increased in number, wealth, and intelligence
with a rapidity of which history furnishes no
parallel.

Prom the time that the commerce of the
North American Colonies became worth the
notice of the British Government, it was put
under the most pernicious and absurd re-
straints, for the supposed advantage of the
mother country, and laws were occasionally
passed here to regulate their internal affairs.

In the war which preceded the peace of 1762.
the Colonists took a very decided part, and
greatly contributed to the conquests made from

COMMON SENSE 5

the French. Canada, which had been taken
from that people, was retained by the British,
and Florida was ceded to us by Spain. Thus
secured from attack by foreign neighbors,
Great Britain and her Colonies were more than
ever attached to each other. The Americans
were proud of the land of their ancestors and
gloried in their descent from Englishmen. This
state of harmony was, however, of short dura-
tion. The unexampled expenses of war re-
quired additional taxes to a large amount, and
the difficulty this occasioned led the govern-
ment in 1764 seriously to contemplate the levy-
ing of taxes in the colonies. This was objected
to by the colonists, unless they were permitted
to send representatives to the British Parlia-
ment; to this the government would not con-
sent, and a dispute commenced which ended in
the separation of the two countries.

Some at least if not all the colonies contend-
ed that they possessed every legislative power
not surrendered by compact: whilst in Britain
it was contended on the part of the govern-
ment that "Parliament possessed the power of
binding them in all cases whatever/'

The dispute became serious, but so contemp-
tible was the power of the colonists considered
in the eyes of the English government that in
a debate in the House of Commons General
Grant, who should have known better, de-
clared that "with five regiments of infantry
lie would undertake to traverse the whole coun-
try and drive the inhabitants from one end of
it to the other." This contempt was not only
entertained by the government and its adher-

6 COMMON SENSE

ents, but by the people, who were eager to
compel their American brethren to submission
by force of arms, against which the voice of a
few wise men was of no avail. Th*e colonists
continuing to refuse the unconditional submis-
sion demanded, recourse was had to arms, and
on the night of the 18th of April, 1775, they
were attacked by the king's troops at Lexing-
ton, and here the first American blood was
spilt by their English brethren. The Ameri-
cans repelled the aggression, appointed GEORGE
WASHINGTON Commander-in-chief, and a des-
ultory civil war desolated the colonies. The
people were undecided in opinion, some were
for submission, and others who deprecated the
conduct of government, and publicly declared
their detestation, disapproved of resistance as
useless, and few were disposed to risk their
lives and property in a contest of which none
appeared able to foretell the consequences. The
doctrine of independence was a novelty hither-
to but slightly advocated by its friends, and
they, from the want of numbers and the timid-
ity always attendant on newly-started notions,
were looked upon as rash and dangerous, or
teacherous and designing men, more deserv-
ing of suspicion and censure than of applause
and imitation.

It was in this crisis, this interval between
fear and principle, that Thomas Paine, then
unknown as a public character, published the
pamphlet Common Sense.* Taking a broader

*"At the close of the year 1775," says Calvin
Blanoliard in his Life of Paine, "when the Amer-
ican Revolution had progressed as far as the

COMMON SENSE 7

and longer view than his contemporaries, see-
ing the inevitable consequence of submission,

battles of Lexington- and Bunker Hill, John
Adams, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, aifd
George Washington, had met together to read
the terrible dispatches they had received. Hav-
ing done which, they pause in gloom and silence.
Presently Franklin speaks: 'What, he asks, *is
to be the end of all this? Is it to obtain justice
of Great Britain, to change the ministry, to

soften a tax? Or is it for' He paused; the

word independence yet choked the bravest throat
that sought to utter it.

"At this critical moment, Paine enters. Frank-
lin introduces him, an-d he takes his seat. He
well knows the cause of the prevailing gloom,
and breaks the deep skence thus: 'These States
of America must be independent of England.
ThatJs the only solution of this question!' They
all rise to their feet at this political blasphemy.
But, nothing daunted, he goes on-; his eye lights
up with patriotic fire as he paints the glorious
destiny which America, considering her vast re-
sources, ought to achieve, and adjures them to
lend their influence to rescue the Western Con-
tinent from the absurd, unnatural, an-d unpro-
gressive predicament of being governed by a
small island, three thousand miles off. Wash-
ington leaped forward, and taking both his
hands, besought him to publish these views in a
book.

"Paine went to his room, seized his pen-, lost
sight of every other object, toiled incessantly,
and in December, 1775, the work entitled Com-
mon Sense, which caused the Declaration of In-
dependence, and brought both people and their
leaders face to face with the work they had to
accomplish, was sent forth on its mission. 'That
book,' says Dr. Rush, 'burst forth from the press
with an effect that has been rarely produced by
types and paper, in any age or country.'

" 'Have you seen the pamphlet. Common Sense?'
asked 'Major General Lee, in a letter to Washing-
ton: 'I never saw such a masterly, irresistible

8 COMMON SENSE

the probable result of a declaration of inde-
pendence, correctly appreciating the reasons
which could be urged on either side, and pre-
eminently possessing the power of clearly
stating what he strongly conceived, he ad-
dressed himself to the Americans in language
which every one could understand, and none
could successfully controvert. This remarkable
and inestimable production may be described
from the anathemas of the enemies of liberty.
It has received the highest possible praise from
the pen of CheBtham, one of Thomas Paine's
most venal and shameless calumniators, who
thus characterizes the work:

'This pamphlet of foVty-seven octavo pages,
holding out relief by proposing INDEPENDENCE
to an oppressed and despairing people, was
published in January, 1776. Speaking a Ian-
gauge which the colonists had felt, but not
thought, its popularity, terrible in its conse-
quences to the mother country, was unexam-
pled in the history of the press. At first in-
volving the colonists, it was thought, in the
crime of rebellion, and pointing to a road lead-
ing inevitably to ruin, it was read with alarm
and indignation, but when the reader (and

performance. It will, if I mistake not, in con-
currence with the transcendent folly and wick-
edness of the ministry, give the coup-de-gract-
to Great Britain. In short, I own myself con-
vinced by the arguments, of the necessity of
separation/

"The tribute of Paine's greatest enemy was in
these words: 'The cannon of Washington was
not more formidable to the British than the pen
of the author of Common Sense.' " — Am. Pub.

COMMON SENSE >

everybody read it), recovering from the first
shock, re-perused it, its arguments, ravishing
his feelings and appealing to his pride, re-
animated his hopes and satisfied his under-
standing, that Common Sense, backed by the
resources and force of the colonies, poor and
feeble as they were, could alone rescue them
from the unqualified oppression with which
they were threatened. The unknown author,
in the moments of enthusiasm which succeeded,
was hailed as an angel sent from heaven to
•save from all the horrors of slavery, by his
timely, powerful, and unerring councils, a
faithful but abused, — a brave but misrepre-
sented people.

"When Common Sense arrived at Albany, the
Convention of New York was sitting there.
General Scott, a leading member, alarmed at
the boldness and novelty oft its arguments,
mentioned his fears to several of his distin-
guished colleagues, and suggested a private
meeting in the evening, for the purpose of
writing an answer. They accordingly met, and
Mr.' McThesson read the pamphlet through.
At first it was deemed necessary and expedi-
ent to answer it without delay, but casting
about for the requisite arguments, they con-
cluded to adjourn and meet again. In a few
evenings they re-assembled, but so rapid was
the change of opinion in the colonies at large
in favor of independence, that they agreed not
to oppose it."

Dr. Gordon in his History of the American
Revolution writes thus, "The publications which
have appeared have greatly promoted the spirit

10 COMMON SENSE

of independence, but no one so much as_ the
pamphlet under the signature of Common
Sense, written hy Thomas Paine, an English-
man. Nothing could have been better timed*
than this performance — it has produced aston-
ishing efects."

Testimonies of this sort from friends and
enemies could easily be multiplied, and proofs
almost without end could be adduced to show
how much the cause of mankind was promoted
by Thomas Paine in thus assisting to lay the
foundation of the American Republic, — the ex-
ample of which will in time be followed by
every people on the earth.

*"Paine was the first to advise the Americans
to assert their independence," says Richard Car-
lile in his Life of Paine. "This he did in his fam-
ous pamphlet, entitled Common Sense, which, for
its consequences and rapid effect, was the most
important production that ever issued from the
press. This pamphlet appeared at the commence-
ment of the year 1776, and electrified the minds
of the oppressed Americans. They had not ven-
tured to harbor the idea of independence, and
they dreaded war so much as to be anxious for
reconciliation with Britain. One incident which
gave a stimulus to the pamphlet Common Sense
was, that it happened to appear on the very day
that the King of England's speech reached the
United States, in which the Americans were de-
nounced as rebels and traitors, and in which
speech it was asserted to be the right of the
legislature of England to bind the Colonies in
all cases whatsoever! Such menace and asser-
tion as this could not fail to kindle the ire of
the Americanos, and Common Sense came for-
ward to touch their feelings with the spirit of
independence in the very nick of time." — Am.
Pub.

COMMON SENSE 11

The principles maintained in Common Sense
are applicable to all times, and to all mankind.
They should be carefully studied by every one
who is at all desirous to possess that informa-
tion without which he must ever remain a
slave at heart,f

fPaine's own opinion of Common Sense may be
inferred from the fact, that previous to hLn
death he directed that his body should be in-
terred on his farm at New Rochelle, and a plain
ston-e placed over his grave bearing this inscrip-
tion:

THOMAS PAINE,

AUTHOR OP
COMMON SENSE

COMMON SENSE

COMMON SENSE.1

Thomas Paine.

INTRODUCTION.

PERHAPS the sentiments contained in the fol-
lowing pages, are not yet sufficiently fashion-
able to procure them general Favor; a long
Habit of not thinking a Thing wrong, gives
it a superficial appearance of being right, and
raises at first a formidable outcry in defense
of Custom. But the Tumult soon subsides.
Time makes more Converts than Reason.

As a long and violent abuse of power is gen-
erally the means of calling the right of it in
question (and in matters too which might never

pamphlet, whose effect has never been
paralleled in literary history, was published
January 10, 1776, with the following title:

Common Sense: Addressed to the Inhabitants
of America, on the following- Interesting Sub-
jects, viz.: I. Of the Origin and Design of Gov-
ernment in General; with Concise Remarks on
the English Constitution. II. Of Monarchy and
Hereditary Succession. III. Thoughts on the
Present State of American Affairs. IV. Of the
Present Ability of America; with some Miscel-
laneous Reflections.

Man knows no master save creating Heaven,
Or those whom choice and common good ordain.

— Thomson.

Philadelphia: Printed, and Sold, by R. Bell, in
Third Street MDCCLXXVL

COMMON SENSE 13

have been thought of, had not the sufferers been
aggravated into the inquiry,) and as the King
of England hath undertaken in his own right,
to support the Parliament in what he calls
Theirs, and as the good People of this Coun-
try are grievously oppressed by the Combina-
tion, they have an undoubted privilege to en-
quire into the Pretensions of both, and equally
to reject the Usurpation of either.

In the following Sheets, the Author hath
studiously avoided every thing which is per-
sonal among ourselves. Compliments as well
as censure to individuals make no part thereof.
The wise and the worthy need not the triumph
of a Pamphlet; and those whose sentiments are
injudicious or unfriendly will cease of them-
selves, unless too much pains is bestowed upon
their conversions.

The cause of America is in a great measure
the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances
have, and will arise, which are not local, but
universal, and through which the principles of
all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the
event of which their affections are interested.
The laying a country desolate with fire and
sword, declaring war against the natural rights
of all mankind, and extirpating the defenders
thereof from the face of the earth, is the con-
cern of every ifian to whom nature hath given
the power of feeling; of which class, regardless
of party censure, is

THE AUTHOR.

14 COMMON SENSE

Postscript to Preface in the third edition.

P. S. The Publication of this new Edition
hath been delayed, with a view of taking notice
(had it been necessary) of any attempt to re-
fute the Doctrine of Independence: As no an-
swer hath yet appeared, it is now presumed that
none will, the time needful for getting such a
Performance ready for the Public being consid-
erably past.

Who the Author of this Production is, Is
wholly unnecessary to the Public, as the Ob-
ject for Attention is the Doctrine itself, not the
Man. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say,
That he is unconnected with any party, and
under no sort of Influence, public or private,
but the influence of reason and principle.

Philadelphia, February 14, 1776.

COMMON SENSE 15

COMMON SENSE.

ON THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT

IN GENERAL, WITH CONCISE REMARKS

ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

SOME writers have so confounded society
with government, as to leave little or no dis-
tinction between them; whereas they are not
only different, but have different origins. So-
ciety is produced by our wants, and govern-
ment by our wickedness; the former promotes
our happiness positively by uniting our affec-
tions, the latter negatively by restraining our
vices. The one encourages intercourse, the
other creates distinctions. The first is a pa-
tron, the last a punisher.

Society in every state is a blessing, but Gov-
ernment, even in its best state, is but a neces-
sary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one:
for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same
miseries by a Government, which we might ex-
pect in a country without Government, our ca-
lamity is heightened by reflecting that we fur-
nish the means by which we suffer.. Govern-
ment, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence;
the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins
of the bowers of paradise. For were the im-
pulses of conscience clear, uniform and irre-
sistibly obeyed, man would need no other law-
giver; but that nor being the case, he finds

16 COMMON SENSE

it necessary to surrender up a part of his prop-
erty to furnish means for the protection of
the rest; and this he is induced to do by the
same prudence which in every other case ad-
vises him, out of two evils to choose the least.
Wherefore, security being the true design and
end of government, it unanswerably follows
that whatever form thereof appears most likely
to ensure it to us, with the least expense and
greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.

In order to gain a clear and just idea of the
design and end of government, let us suppose
a small number of persons settled in some se-
questered part of the earth, unconnected with
the rest; they will then represent the first peo-
pling of any country, or of the world. In this
state of natural liberty, society will be their
first thought. A thousand motives will ex-
cite them thereto; the strength of one man
is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so
unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon
obliged to seek assistance arid relief of an-
other, who in his turn requires the same. Pour
or five united would be able to raise a toler-
able dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but
one man might labour out the common period
of life without accomplishing any thing; when
he had felled his timber he could not remove
it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger
in the mean time would urge him to quit his
work, and every different want would call him
a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune,
would be death; for though neither might be
mortal, yet either would disable him from liv-
ing, and reduce him to a state in which he

COMMON SENSE 17

might rather be said to perish than to die.

Thus necessity, like a gravitating power,
would soon form our newly arrived emigrants
into society, the reciprocal blessings of which
would supercede, and render the obligations of
law and government unnecessary while they
remained perfectly just to each other; but as
nothing but Heaven is impregnable to vice, it
will unavoidably happen that in proportion as
they surmount the first difficulties of emi-
gration, which bound them together in a com-
mon cause, they will begin to relax in their
duty and attachment to each other: and this
remissness will point out the necessity of es-
tablishing some form of government to supply
the defect of moral virtue.

Some convenient tree will afford them a State
House, under the branches of which the whole
Colony may assemble to deliberate on public
matters. It is more than probable that their
first laws will have the title only of Regula-
tions and be enforced by no other penalty than
public disesteem. In this first parliament every
man by natural right will have a seat.

But as the Colony encreases, the public con-
cerns will encrease likewise, and the distance
at which the members may be separated, will
render it too inconvenient for all of them to
meet on every occasion as at first, when their
number was small, their habitations near, and
the public concerns few and trifling. This will
point out the convenience of their consenting
to leave the legislative part to be managed
by a select number chosen from the whole
body, who are supposed to have the same con-

18 COMMON SENSE

cerns at stake which those have who appointed
them, and who will act in the same manner
as the whole body would act were they pres-
ent. If the colony continue encreasing, it will
become necessary to augment the number of
representatives, and that the interest of every
part of the colony may be attended to, it will
be found best to divide the whole into con-
venient parts, each part sending its proper
number: and that the elected might never form
to themselves an interest separate from the
electors, prudence will point out the propriety
of having elections often: because as the elected
might by that means return and mix again
with the general body of the electors in a few
months, their fidelity to the public will be se-
cured by the prudent reflection of not mak-
ing a rod for themselves. And as this frequent
interchange will establish a common interest
with every part of the community, they will
mutually and naturally support each other, and
on this, (not on the unmeaning name of king,)
depends the strength of government, and the
happiness of the governed.

Here then is the origin and rise of govern-
ment; namely, a mode rendered necessary by
the inability of moral virtue to govern the
world; here too is the design and end of govern-
ment, viz. Freedom and security. And however
our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our
ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may
warp our wills, or interest darken our under-
standing, the simple voice of nature and rea-
son will say, 'tis right.

I draw my idea of the form of government

COMMON SENSE 19

from a principle in nature which no art can
overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing
is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and
the easier repaired when disordered; and with
this maxim in view I offer a few remarks on
the so much boasted constitution of England.
That it was noble for the dark and slavish
times in which it was erected, is granted. When
the world was overrun with tyranny the least
remove therefrom was a glorious rescue. But
that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, and
incapable of producing what it seems to prom-
ise, is easily demonstrated.

Absolute governments, (tho* the disgrace of
human nature) have this advantage with them,
they are simple; if the people suffer, they know
the head from which their suffering springs;
know likewise the remedy; and are not be-
wildered by a variety of causes and cures. But
the constitution of England is so exceedingly
complex, that the nation may suffer for years
together without being able to discover in
which part the fault lies; some will say in one
and some in another, and every political phy-
sician will advise a different medicine.

I know it is difficult to get over local or
long standing prejudices, yet if we will suf-
fer ourselves to examine the component parts
of the English constitution, we shall find them
to be the base remains of two ancient tyrannies,
compounded with some new Republican ma-
terials.

First. — The remains of Monarchical tyranny
in the person of the King.

20 COMMON SENSE

Secondly. — The remains of Aristocratical ty-
ranny in the persons of the Peers.

Thirdly. — The new Republican materials, in
the persons of the Commons, on whose virtue
depends the freedom of England.

The two first, by being hereditary, are inde-
pendent of the People; wherefore in a con-
stitutional sense they contribute nothing to-
wards the freedom of the State.

To say that the constitution of England is
an union of three powers, reciprocally checking
each other, is farcical; either the words have
no meaning, or they are flat contradictions.

To say that the Commons is a check upon
the King, presupposes two things.

First. — That the King it not to be trusted
without being looked after; or in other words,
that a thirst for absolute power is the natural
disease of monarchy.

Secondly — That the Commons, by being ap-
pointed for that purpose, are either wiser or
more worthy of confidence than the Crown.

But as the same constitution which gives the
Commons a power to check the King by with-
holding the supplies, gives afterwards the King
a power to check the Commons, by empower-
ing him to reject their other bills; it again
supposes that the King is wiser than those
whom it has already supposed to be wiser than
him. A mere absurdity!

There is something exceedingly ridiculous in
the composition of Monarchy; it first excludes
a man from the means of information, yet em-
powers him to act in cases where the highest
judgment is required. The state of a king shuts

COMMON SENSE 21

him from the World, yet the business of a king
requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore
the different parts, by unnaturally opposing and
destroying each other, prove the whole charac-
ter to be absurd and useless.

Some writers have explained the English
constitution thus: the King, say they, is one,
the people another; the Peers are a house in
behalf of the King, the commons in behalf of
the people; but this hath all the distinctions
of a house divided against itself; and though
the expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet
when examined they appear idle and ambigu-
ous; and it will always happen, that the nic-
est construction that words are capable of, when
applied to the description of something which
either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible
to be within the compass of description, will b*
words of sound only, and though they may
amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind:
for this explanation includes a previous ques-
tion, viz. how came the king by a power which
the people are afraid to trust, and always
obliged to check? Such a power could not be
the gift of a wise people, neither can any power,
which needs checking, be from God; yet the
provision which the constitution makes sup-
poses such a power to exist.

But the provision is unequal to the task; the
means either cannot or will not accomplish
the end, and the whole affair is a Felo de se:
for as the greater weight will always carry
up the less, and as all the wheels of a machine
are put in motion by one, it only remains to
know which power in the constitution has the

22 COMMON &ENSE

most weight, for that will govern: a^ti tho' the
others, or a part of them, may clog, or, as the
phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet
so long as they cannot stop it, their endeavours
will be ineffectual: The first moving power
will at last have its way, and what it wants
in speed is supplied by time.

That the crown is this overbearing part in
the English constitution needs not be men-
tioned, and that it derives its whole conse-
quence merely from being the giver of places
and pensions is self-evident; wherefore, though
we have been wise enough to shut and lock a
door against absolute Monarchy, we at the
same time have been foolish enough to put the
Crown in possession of the key.

The prejudice of Englishmen, in favour of
their own government, by King, Lords and Com-
mons, arises as much or more from national
pride than reason. Individuals are undoubtedly
safer in England than in some other countries:
but the will of the king is as much the law of
the land in Britain as in France, with this
difference, that instead of proceeding directly
from his mouth, it is handed to the people un-
der the formidable shape of an act of parlia-
ment. For the fate of Charles the First hath
only made kings more subtle — not more just.

Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and
prejudice in favour of modes and forms, the
plain truth is that it is wholly owing to the
constitution of the people, and not to the con-
stitution of the government that the crown is
not as oppressive in England as in Turkey.

An inquiry into the constitutional errors in

COMMON SENSE 23

the English form of government, is at this time
highly necessary; for as we are never in a
proper condition of doing justice to others,
while we continue under the influence of some
leading partiality, so neither are we capable of
doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered
by any obstinate prejudice. And as a man who
is attached to a prostitute is unfitted to choose
or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in fa-
vour of a rotten constitution of government will
disable us from discerning a good one.'

OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION.

MANKIND being originally equals in the order
of creation, the equality could only be destroyed
by some subsequent circumstance: the distinc-
tions of rich and poor may in a great measure
be accounted for, and that without having re-
course to the harsh ill-sounding names of
oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the
consequence, but seldom or never the means
of riches; and tho* avarice will preserve a man
from being necessitously poor, it generally
makes him too timorous to be wealthy.

But there is another and great distinction for
which no truly natural or religious reason can
be assigned, and that is the distinction of men
into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are
the distinctions of nature, good and bad the
distinctions of Heaven; but how a race of men
came into the world so exalted above the rest,
and distinguished like some new species, is
worth inquiring into, and whether they are
the means of happiness or of misery to man-
kind.

24 COMMON SENSE

In the early ages of the world, according to
the scripture chronology there were no kings;
the consequence of which was, there were no
wars; it is the pride of kings which throws
mankind into confusion. Holland, without a
king hath enjoyed more peace for this last
century than any of the monarchical govern-
ments in Europe. Antiquity favours the same
remark; for the quiet and rural lives of the
first Patriarchs have a snappy something in
them, which vanishes when we come to the his-
tory of Jewish royalty.

Government by kings was first introduced
into the world by the Heathens, from whom the
children of Israel copied the custom. It was
the most prosperous invention the Devil ever
set on foot for the promotion of idolatry. The
Heathens paid divine honours to their deceased
kings, and the Christian World hath improved
on the plan by doing the same to their living
ones. How impious is the title of sacred Maj-
esty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his
splendor is crumbling into dust!

As the exulting one man so greatly above the
rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of
nature, so neither can it be defended on the
authority of scripture; for the will of the Al-
mighty as declared by Gideon, and the prophet
Samuel, expressly disapproves of government
by Kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scrip-
ture, have been very smoothly glossed over ii.
monarchical governments, but they undoubtedly
merit the attention of countries which have
their governments yet to form. Render unto
Cesar the things which are Cesar's, is the scrip-

COMMON SENSE 15

ture doctrine of courts, yet it is no support of
monarchical government, for the Jews at that
time were without a king, and in a state of
vassalage to the Romans.

Near three thousand years passed away, from
the Mosaic account of the creation, till the Jews
under a national delusion requested a king.
Till then their form of government (except in
extraordinary cases where the Almighty inter-
posed) was a kind of Republic, administered by
a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they
had none, and it was held sinful to acknowledge
any being under that title but the Lord of
Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on
the idolatrous homage which is paid to the per-
sons of kings, he need not wonder that the Al-
mighty, ever jealous of his honour, should dis-
approve a form of government which so Im-
piously invades the prerogative of Heaven.

Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of
the sins of the Jews, for which a curse in re-
serve is denounced against them. The history
of that transaction is worth attending to.

The children of Israel being oppressed by the
Midianites, Gideon marched against them with
a small army, and victory thro* the divine in-
terposition decided in his favour. The Jews,
elate with success, and attributing it to the gen-
eralship of Gideon, proposed making him a
king, saying, Rule thou over us, thou and thy
son, and thy son's son. Here was temptation
in its fullest extent; not a kingdom only, but
an hereditary one; but Gideon in the piety of
his soul replied, I will not rule over you, neither
shall my son rule over you. THE LORD SHALL

26 COMMON SENSE

RULE OVER YOU. Words need not be more ex-
plicit: Gideon doth not decline the honour, but
denieth their right to give it; neither doth he
compliment them with invented declarations
of his thankb, but in the positive style of a
prophet charges them with disaffection to their
.proper Sovereign, the King of Heaven.

About one hundred and thirty years after
this, they fell again into the same error. The
hankering which the Jews had for the idol-
atrous customs of the Heathens, is something
exceedingly unaccountable; but so it was, that
laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel's two
sons, who were intrusted with some secular con-
cerns, they came in an abrupt and clamorous
manner to Samuel, saying, Behold tfiou art old,
and thy sons ivalk not in thy ways, now make
us a king to judge us like all the other na-
tions. And here we cannot observe but that
their motives were bad, viz. that they might
be like unto other nations, i. e. the Heathens,
whereas their true glory lay in being as much
unlike them as possible. But the thing dis-
pleased Samuel when they said, give us a King
to judge us; and Samuel prayed unto the Lord,
and the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto
the voice of the people in all that they say unto
thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they
have rejected me, THAT i SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER
THEM. According to all the works which they
have done since the day that I brought them
up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith
they hove forsaken me, and served other Cods:
,vo flo they also unto thee. Now therefore
unto their voice, ho-wbcit, protest sol-

RXSF. 27

emnly unto them and show them the manner
of the King that shall reign over them, i. e. not
of any particular King, but the general manner
of the Kings of the earth whom Israel was so
eagerly copying after. And notwithstanding
the great distance of time and difference of
manners, the character is still in fashion. And
Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the
people, that asked of him a King. And he said,
This shall l>e the manner of the King that shall
reign over you. He will take your sons and ap-
point them for himself for his chariots and to
be his horsemen, and some shall run before his
chariots (this description agrees with the pres-
ent mode of impressing men) and Tie will ap-
point Mm captains over thousands and cap-
tains over fifties, will set them to ear his ground %
and to reap Jiis harvest, and to make his instru-
ments of war, and instruments of his chariots,
And he ivill take your daughters to be confec-
tionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers
(this describes the expense and luxury as well
as the oppression of Kings) and he will take
your fields and your vineyards, and your olive
yards, even the best of them, and give them to
his servants. And he will take the tenth of
your seed, and of your vineyards, and give
them to his officers and to his servants (by
which we see that bribery, corruption, and fa-
vouritism, are the standing vices of Kings) and
he will ta7ce the tenth of your men servants^
and your maid servants, and your goodliest
young men. and your asses, and put them to
his work: and he will take the tenth of your
sheep, and ye shall be his servants, and ye shall

28 COMMON SENSE

cry out in thai day because of your king which
ye shall have chosen, AND THE LORD WILL NOT
HEAR YOU IN THAT DAY. This accounts for the
continuation of Monarchy; neither do the char-
acters of the few good kings which have lived
since, either sanctify the title, or blot out the
sinfulness of the origin; the high encomium
of David takes no notice of him officially as a
King, but only as a man after God's own heart.
Nevertheless the people refused to obey the
voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but we will
have a king over us, that we may be like all the
nations, and that our king may judge us, and
go out before us and fight our battles. Samuel
continued to reason with them but to no pur-
pose; he set before them their ingratitude, but
all would not avail ; and seeing them fully bent
" on their folly, he cried out, I will call unto the
Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain
(which was then a punishment, being in the
time of wheat harvest) that ye may perceive
and see that your wickedness is great which
ye have done in the sight of the Lord, IN ASK-
ING YOU A KING. So Samuel called unto the
Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that
day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord
and Samuel. And all the people said unto Sam-
uel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy
God that we die not, for WE HAVE ADDED UNTO

OUR SINS THIS EVIL, TO ASK A KING. These por-

tions of scripture are direct and positive. They
admit of no equivocal construction. That the
Almighty hath here entered his protest against
monarchical government is true, or the scrip-
ture is false. And a man hath good reason to

COMMON SENSE 29

believe that there is as much of kingcraft as
priestcraft in withholding the scripture from
the public in popish countries. For monarchy
in every instance is the popery of government.

To the evil of monarchy we have added that
of hereditary succession; and as the first is a
degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the
second, claimed as a matter of right, is an in-
sult and imposition on posterity. For all men
being originally equals, no one by birth could
have a right to set up his own family in per-
petual preference to all others for ever, and
tho' himself might deserve some decent degree
of honours of his contemporaries, yet his de-
scendants might be far too unworthy to inherit
them. One of the strongest natural proofs of
the folly of hereditary right in Kings, is that
nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not
so frequently turn it into ridicule, by giving
mankind an Ass for a Lion.

Secondly, as no man at first could possess
any other public honors than were bestowed
upon him, so the givers of those honors could
have no power to give away the right of pos-
terity, and though they might say "We choose
you for our head," they could not without mani-
fest injustice to their children say "that your
children and your children's • children shall
reign over ours forever." Because such an un-
wise, unjust, unnatural compact might (per-
haps) in the next succession put them under
the government of a rogue or a fool. Most wise
men in their private sentiments have ever
treated hereditary right with contempt; yet it
is one of those evils which when once estab-

30 COMMON SENSE

lished is not easily removed: many submit from
fear, others from superstition, and the more
powerful part shares with the king the plunder
of the rest.

This is supposing the present race of kings
in the world to have had an honorable origin:
whereas it is more than probable, that, could
we take off the dark covering of antiquity and
trace them to their first rise, we should find
the first of them nothing better than the prin-
cipal ruffian of some restless gang, whose sav-
age manners of pre-eminence in subtilty ob-
tained him the title of chief among plunderers;
and who by increasing in power and extending
his depredations, overawed the quiet and de-
fenseless to purchase their safety by frequent
contributions. Yet his electors could have no
idea of giving hereditary right to his descend-
ants, because such a perpetual exclusion of
themselves was incompatible with the free and
restrained principles they professed to live by.
Wherefore, hereditary succession in the early
ages of monarchy could not take place as a mat-
ter of claim, but as something casual or com-
plemental; but as few or no records were ex-
tant in those days, the traditionary history
stuff d with fables, it was very easy, after the
lapse of a few generations, to trump up some
superstitious tale conveniently timed, Mahomet-
like, to cram hereditary right down the throats
of the vulgar. Perhaps the disorders which
threatened, or seemed to threaten, on the de-
cease of a leader and the choice of a new one
(for elections among ruffians could not be very
orderly) induced many at first to favour heredi-

COMMON SENSE SI

tary pretensions; by which means it happened,
as it hath happened since, that what at first
was submitted to as a convenience was after-
wards claimed as a right.

England since the conquest hath known some
few good monarchs, but groaned beneath, a
much larger number of bad ones: yet no man
in his senses can say that their claim under
William the Conqueror is a very honourable
one. A French bastard landing with an armed
Banditti and establishing himself king of En-
gland against the consent of the natives, is in
plain terms a very paltry rascally original. It
certainly hath no divinity in it. However it is
needless to spend much time in exposing the
folly of hereditary right; if there are any so
weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously
worship the Ass and the Lion, and welcome. I
shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb
their devotion.

Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose
kings came at first? The question admits but
of three answers, viz. either by lot, by election,
or by usurpation. If the first king was taken
by lot, it establishes a precedent for the next,
which excludes hereditary succession. Saul
was by lot, yet the succession was not heredi-
tary, neither does it appear from that transac-
tion that there was any intention it ever should.
If the first king of any country was by election,
that likewise establishes a precedent for the
next; for to say, that the right of all future
generations is taken away, by the act of the
first electors, in their choice not only of a king
but of a family of kings for ever, hath no

32 COMMON SENSfi

parallel in or out of scripture but the doctrine
of original sin, which supposes the free will of
all men lost in Adam; and from such com-
parison, and it will admit of no other, heredi-
tary succession can derive no glory. For as in
Adam all sinned, and as in the first electors
all men obeyed ; as in the one all mankind were
subjected to Satan, and in the other to sover-
eignty; as our innocence was lost in the first,
and our authority in the last; and as both dis-
able us from re-assuming some former state and
privilege, it unanswerably follows that orig-
inal sin and hereditary succession are parallels.
Dishonourable rank! inglorious connection! yet
the most subtle sophist cannot produce a juster
simile.

As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as
to defend it; and that William the Conqueror
was an usurper is a fact not to be contradicted.
The plain truth is, that the antiquity of En-
glish monarchy will not bear looking into.

But it is not so much the absurdity as the
evil of hereditary succession which concerns
mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and
wise men it would have the seal of divine au-
thority, but as it opens a door to the foolish,
the wicked, and the improper, it hath in it
the nature of oppression. Men who look upon
themselves born to reign, and others to obey,
soon grow insolent. Selected from the rest of
mankind, their minds are early poisoned by
importance; and the world they act in differs
so materially from the world at large, that they
have but little opportunity of knowing its true
interests, and when they succeed to the govern-

COMMON SENSE 83

ment are frequently the most ignorant and un-
fit of any throughout the dominions.

Another evil which attends hereditary suc-
cession is, that the throne is subject to be pos-
sessed by a minor at any age; all which time
the regency acting under the cover of a king
have every opportunity and inducement to be-
tray their trust. The same national misfor-
tune happens when a king worn out with age
and infirmity enters the last stage of human
weakness. In both these cases the public be-
comes a prey to every miscreant who can tam-
per successfully with the follies either of age
or infancy.

The most plausible plea which hath ever been
offered in favor of hereditary succession is,
that it preserves a nation from civil wars; and
were this true, it would be weighty; whereas it
is the most bare-faced falsity ever imposed
upon mankind. The whole history of England
disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors
have reigned in that distracted kingdom since
the conquest, in which time there has been (in-
cluding the revolution) no less than eight civil
wars and nineteen Rebellions. Wherefore in-
stead of making for peace, it makes against it,
and destroys the very foundation it seems to
stand upon.

The contest for monarchy and succession, be-
tween the houses of York and Lancaster, laid
England in a scene of blood for many years.
Twelve pitched battles besides skirmishes and
sieges were fought between Henry and Edward.
Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in
his turn was prisoner to Henry. And so un-

24

certain 13 the fate of war and the temper of a
nation, when nothing but personal matters are
the ground of a quarrel, that Henry was taken
in triumph from a prison to a palace, and Ed-
ward obliged to fly from a palace to a foreign
land; yet, as sudden transitions of temper are
seldom lasting, Henry in his turn was driven
from the throne, and Edward re-called to suc-
ceed him. The parliament always following the
strongest side.

This contest began in the reign of Henry the
Sixth, and was not entirely extinguished till
Henry the Seventh, in whom the families were
united. Including a period of 67 years, viz.
from 1422 to 1489.

In short, monarchy and succession have laid
(not this or that kingdom only) but the world
in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of government
which the word of God bears testimony against,
and blood will attend it.

If we enquire into the business of a King,
we shall find that in some countries they may
have none; and after sauntering away their
lives without pleasure to themselves or ad-
vantage to the nation, withdraw from the scene,
and leave their successors to tread the same idle
round. In absolute monarchies the whole
weight of business civil and military lies on the
King; the children of Israel in their request
for a king urged this plea, "that he may judge
us, and go out before us and fight our battles."
But in countries where he is neither a Judge
nor a General, as in England, a man would be
puzzled to know what is his business.

The nearer any government approaches to a

COMMON SENSE 35

Republic, the less business there is for a King.
It is somewhat difficult to find a proper name
for the government of England. Sir William
Meredith calls it a Republic; but in its present
state it is unworthy of the name, because the
corrupt influence of the Crown, by having all
the places in its disposal, hath so effectually
swallowed up the power, and eaten out the
virtue of the House of Commons (the Repub-
lican part in the constitution) that the govern-
ment of England is nearly as monarchical as
that of France or Spain. Men fall out with
names without understanding them. For 'tis
the Republican and not the Monarchical part
of the Constitution of England which English-
men glory in, viz. the liberty of choosing an
House of Commons from out of their own body
— and it is easy to see that when Republican
virtues fail, slavery ensues. Why is the con-
stitution of England sickly, but because mon-
archy hath poisoned the Republic; the Crown
hath engrossed the Commons.

In England a King hath little more to do
than to make war and give away places; which,
in plain terms, is to empoverish the nation
and set it together by the ears. A pretty busi-
ness indeed for a man to be allowed eight hun-
dred thousand sterling a year for, and wor-
shipped into the bargain! Of more worth is
one honest man to society, and in the sight of
God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever
lived.

36 COMMON {SE

THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF
AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

IN the following pages I offer nothing more
than simple facts, plain arguments, and com-
mon sense: and have no other preliminaries to
settle with the reader, than that he will divest
himself of prejudice and prepossession, and
suffer his reason and his feelings to determine
for themselves: that he will put on, or rather
that he will not put off, the true character of
a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond
the present day.

Volumes have been written on the subject of
the struggle between England and America.
Men of all ranks have embarked in the con-
troversy, from different motives, and with
various designs; but all have been ineffectual,
and the period of debate is closed. Arms as
the last resource decide the contest; the appeal
was the choice of the King, and the Continent
has accepted the challenge.

It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham
(who tho' an able minister was not without
his faults) that on his being attacked in the
House of Commons on the score that his meas-
ures were only of a temporary kind, replied,
''they will last my time.9' Should a thought so
fatal and unmanly possess the Colonies in the
present contest, the name of ancestors will be

COMMON SENSE 57

remembered by future generations with de-
testation.

The Sun never shined on a cause of greater
worth. Tis not the affair of a City, a County,
a Province, or a Kingdom; but of a Continent —
of at least one-eighth part of the habitable
Globe. 'Tis not the concern of a day, a year,
or an age; posterity are virtually involved in
the contest, and will be more or less affected
even to the end of time, by the proceedings now.
Now is the seed-time of Continental union,
faith and honour. The least fracture now will
be like a name engraved with the point of a
pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the
wound would enlarge with the tree, and pos-
terity read in it full grown characters.

By referring the matter from argument to
arms, a new era for politics is struck — a new
method of thinking hath arisen. All plans,
proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth of April,
i. e. to the commencement of hostilities,* are
like the almanacks of the last year; which tho'
proper then, are superceded and useless now.
Whatever was advanced by the advocates on
either side of the question then, terminated in
one and the same point, viz. a union with
Great Britain; the only difference between the
parties was the method of effecting it; the one
proposing force, the other friendship; but it
hath so faj; happened that the first hath failed,
and the second hath withdrawn her influence.

As much hath been said of the advantages
of reconciliation, which, like an agreeable

*At Lexington, Massachusetts, 1775. — Editor.

S$ COMMON SENSE

dream, hath passed away and left us as we
were, it is but right that we should examine
the contrary side of the argument, and enquire
into some of the many material injuries which
these Colonies sustain, and always will sustain,
by being connected with and dependant on
Great Britain. To examine that connection
and dependance, on the principles of nature and
common sense, to see what we have to trust to,
if separated, and what we are to expect, if
dependant.

I have heard it asserted by some, that as
America has flourished under her former con-
nection with Great Britain, the same connection
is necessary towards her future happiness, and
will always have the same effect. Nothing can
be more fallacious than this kind of argument.
We may as well assert that because a child has
thrived upon milk, that it is never to have
meat, or that the first twenty years of our
lives is to become a precedent for the next
twenty. But even this is admitting more than
is true; for I answer roundly that America
would have flourished as much, and probably
much more, had no European power taken any
notice of her. The commerce by which she
hath enriched herself are the necessaries of
life, and will always have a market while eat-
ing is the custom of Europe.

But she has protected us, say some. That
she hath engrossed us is true, and defended the
Continent at our expense as well as her own,
is admitted; and she would have defended
Turkey from the same motive, viz. for the sake
of trade and dominion.

COMMON SENSE 39

Alas! we have been long led away by ancient
prejudices and made large sacrifices to super-
stition. We have boasted the protection of
Great Britain, without considering, that her
motive was interest not attachment; and that
she did not protect us from our enemies on our
account; but from her enemies on her own ac-
count, from those who had no quarrel with us
on any other account, and who will always be
our enemies on the same account. Let Britain
waive her pretensions to the Continent, or the
Continent throw off the dependance, and we
should be at peace with France and Spain,
were they at war with Britain. The miseries
of Hanover last war ought to warn us against
connections.

It hath lately been asserted in parliament,
that the Colonies have no relation to each other
but through the Parent Country, i. e. that Penn-
sylvania and the Jerseys and so on for the
rest, are sister Colonies by the way of England;
this is certainly a very roundabout way of
proving relationship, but it is the nearest and
only true way of proving enmity (or enemy-
ship, if I may so call it.) France and Spain
never were, nor perhaps ever will be, our
enemies as Americans, but as our being the
subjects of Great Britain.

But Britain is the parent country, say some.
Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even
brutes do not devour their young, nor savages
make war upon their families. Wherefore, the
assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but
it happens not to be true, or only partly so, and
the phrase parent or mother country hath been

40 COMMQN SENSE

jesuitically adopted by the King and his par-
asites, with a low papistical design of gaining
an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of
our minds. Europe, and not England, is the
parent country of America. This new World
hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers'
of civil and religious liberty from every part of
Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the
tender embraces of the mother, but from the
cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of
England, that the same tyranny which drove
the first emigrants from home, pursues their
descendants still.

In this extensive quarter of the globe, we for-
get the narrow limits of three hundred and
sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry
our friendship on a larger scale; we claim
brotherhood with every European Christian, and
triumph in the generosity of the sentiment.

It is pleasant to observe by what regular
gradations we surmount the force of local pre-
judices, as we enlarge our acquaintance with
the World. A man born in any town in Eng-
land divided into parishes, will naturally as-
sociate most with his fellow parishioners (be-
cause their interests in many cases will be com-
mon) and distinguish him by the name of
neighbour; if he meet him but a few miles
from home, he drops the narrow idea of a
street, and salutes him by the name of toivns-
mari; if he travel out of the county and meet
him in any other, he forgets the minor divis-
ions of street and town, and calls him country-
man, i. e. countyman: but if in their foreign
excursions they should associate in France, or

COMMON SENSE 41

any other part of Europe, their local remem-
brance would be enlarged into that of English-
men. And by a just parity of reasoning, all
Europeans meetings in America, or any other
quarter of the globe, are countrymen; for Eng-
land, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when com-
pared with the whole, stand in the same places
on the larger scale, which the divisions of
street, town, and county do on the smaller
>ones; Distinctions too limited for Continental
minds. Not one third of the inhabitants, even
of this province, [Pennsylvania], are of Eng-
lish descent. Wherefore, I reprobate the phrase
of Parent or Mother Country applied to Eng-
land only, as being false, selfish, narrow and
ungenerous.

But, admitting that we were all of English
descent, what does it amount to? Nothing.
Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes
every other name and title: and to say that re"
conciliation is our duty, is truly farcical. The
first king of England, of the present line (Wil-
liam the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and
half the peers of England are descendants from
the same country; wherefore, by the same
method of reasoning, England ought to be gov-
erned by France.

Much hath been said of the united strength
of Britain and the Colonies, that in conjunc-
tion they might bid defiance to the world: But
this is mere presumption; the fate of war is
uncertain, neither do the expressions mean any-
thing; for this continent would never suffer
itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support

42 COMMON SENSE

the British arms in cither Asia, Africa, or
Europe.

Besides, what have we to do with setting the
world at defiance? Our plan is commerce, and
that, well attended to, will secure us the peace
and friendship of all Europe; because it is the
interest of all' Europe to have America a free
port. Her trade will always be a protection,
and her barrenness of gold and silver secure
her from invaders.

I challenge the warmest advocate for recon-
ciliation to show a single advantage that this
continent can reap by being connected with
Great Britain. I repeat the challenge; not a
single advantage is derived. Our corn will
fetch its price in any market in Europe, and
our imported goods must be paid for buy them
where we will.

But the injuries and disadvantages which we
sustain by that connection, are without num-
ber; and our duty to mankind at large, as well
as to ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alli-
ance: because, any submission to, or depend-
ance on, Great Britain, tends directly to in-
volve this Continent in European wars and
quarrels, and set us at variance with nations
who would otherwise seek our frieclship, and
against whom we have neither anger nor com-
plaint. As Europe is our market for trade,
we ought to form no partial connection with
any part of it. It is the true interest of Amer-
ica to steer clear of European contentions,
which she never can do, while, by her depend-
ance on Britain, she is made the make-weight
in the scale of British politics.

COMMON SENSE 43

Europe is too thickly planted with Kingdoms
to be long at peace, and whenever a war breaks
out between England and any foreign power,
the trade of America goes to ruin, because of
Tier connection with Britain. The next war
may not turn out like the last, and should it
not, the advocates for reconciliation now will
be wishing for separation then, because neu-
trality in that case would be a safer convoy
than a man of war. Every thing that is right
or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood
of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries,
'Tis TIME TO PAKT. Even the distance at which
the Almighty hath placed England and America
is a strong and natural proof that the autho-
rity of the one over the other, was never the
design of Heaven. The time likewise at which
the Continent was discovered, adds weight to
the argument, and the manner in which it was
peopled, encreases the force of it. The Refor-
mation was preceded by the discovery of Am-
erica: As if the Almighty graciously meant
to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in fu-
ture years, when home should afford neither
friendship nor safety.

The authority of Great Britain over this con-
tinent, is a form of government, which sooner
or later must have an end: And a serious
mind can draw no true pleasure by looking
forward, under the painful and positive con-
viction that what he calls "the present con-
stitution" is merely temporary. As parents,
we can have no joy, knowing that this govern-
ment is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any
thing which we may bequeath to posterity:

44 COMMON SENSE

And by a plain method of argument, as we are
running the next generation into debt, we
ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use
them meanly and pitifully. In order to dis-
cover the line of our duty rightly, we should
take our children in our hand, and fix our
station a few years farther into life; that emin-
ence will present a prospect which a few pres-
ent fears and prejudices conceal from our sight.

Though I would carefully avoid giving un-
necessary offence, yet T am inclined to believe,
that all those who espouse the doctrine of re-
conciliation, may be included within the fol-
lowing descriptions.

Interested men, who are not to be trusted,
weak men who cannot see, prejudiced men who
will not see, and a certain set of moderate men
who think better of the European world than
it deserves; and this last class, by an ill-judged
deliberation, will be the cause of more calam-
ities to this Continent than all the other three.

It is the good fortune of many to live distant
from the scene of present sorrow; the evil is
not sufficiently brought to their doors to make
them feel the precariousness with which all
American property is possessed. But let our
imaginations transport us a few moments to
Boston; that seat of wretchedness will teach
us wisdom, and instruct us for ever to re-
nounce a power in whom we can have no trust.
The inhabitants of that unfortunate city who
but a few months ago were in ease and afflu-
ence, have now no other alternative than to
stay and starve, or turn out to beg. Endan-
gered by the fire of their friends if they con-

COMMON SENSE 45

tinue within the city and plundered by the
soldiery if they leave it, in their present sit-
uation they are prisoners without the hope of
redemption, and in a general attack for their
relief they would be exposed to the fury of
both armies.

"Men of passive tempers look somewhat light-
ly over the offences of Great Britain, and, still
hoping for the best, are apt to call out, Come,
come, we shall be friends again for all this.
But examine the passions and feelings of man-
kind: bring the doctrine of reconciliation to
the touchstone of nature, and then tell me
whether you can hereafter love, honour, and
faithfully serve the power that hath carried
fire and sword into your land? If you cannot
do all these, then are you only deceiving your-
selves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon
posterity. Your future connection with Bri-
tain, whom you can neither love nor honour,
will be forced and unnatural, and being formed
only on the plan of present convenience, will
in a little time fall into a relapse more wretch-
ed than the first. But if you say, you can still
pass the violations over, then I ask, hath your
house been burnt? Hath your property been
destroyed before your face? Are your wife and
children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread
to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child
by their hands, and yourself the ruined and
wretched survivor? If you have not, then are
you not a judge of those who have. But if you
have, and can still shake hands with the mur-
derers, then are you unworthy the name of
husband, father, friend or lover, and whatever

46 COMMON SENSE

may be your rank or title in life, you have the
heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant.

This is not inflaming or exaggerating mat-
ters, but trying them by those feelings and
affections which nature justifies, and without
which we should be incapable of discharging
the social duties of life, or enjoying the feli-
cities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror for
the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awak-
en us from fatal and unmanly slumbers, that
we may pursue determinately some fixed ob-
ject. 'Tis not in the power of Britain or of
Europe to conquer America, if she doth not
conquer herself by delay and timidity. The
present winter is worth an age if rightly em-
ployed, but if lost or neglected the whole Con-
tinent will partake of the misfortune; and
there is no punishment which that man doth
not deserve, be he who, or what, or where he
will, that may be the means of sacrificing a
season so precious and useful.

'Tis repugnant to reason, to the universal
order of things, to all examples from former
ages, to suppose that this Continent can long
remain subject to any external power. The
most sanguine in Britain doth not think so.
The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot,
at this time, compass a plan, short of separa-
tion, which can promise the continent even a
year's security. Reconciliation is noiv> a fal-
lacious dream. Nature hath deserted the con-
nection, and art cannot supply her place. For,
as Milton wisely expresses, "never can true
reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly
hate have pierced so deep."

COMMON SENSE 47

Every quiet method for peace hath been in-
effectual. Our prayers have been rejected with
disdain; and hath tended to convince us that
nothing flatters vanity or confirms obstinacy
in Kings more than repeated petitioning — and
nothing hath contributed more than that very
measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute.
Witness Denmark and Sweden. Wherefore,
since nothing but blows will do, for God's sake
let us come to a final separation, and not
leave the next generation to be cutting throats
under the violated unmeaning names of parent
and child.

To say they will never attempt it again is
idle and visionary; we thought so at the re-
peal of the stamp act, yet a year or two un-
deceived us; as well may we suppose that na-
tions which have been once defeated will never
renew the quarrel.

As to government matters, 'tis not in the
power of Britain to do this continent justice:
the business of it will soon be too weighty and
intricate to be managed with any tolerable de-
gree of convenience, by a power so distant
from us, and so very ignorant of us; for if they
cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To
be always running three or four thousand miles
with a tale or petition, waiting for four or five
months for an answer, which, when obtained,
requires five or six more to explain it in, will
in a few years be looked upon as folly and
childishness. There was a time when it was
proper, and there is a proper time for it to
cease.

Small islands not capable of protecting them-

48 COMMON SENSE

selves are the proper objects for government1
to take under their care; but there is some-
thing absurd, in supposing a Continent to be
perpetually governed by an island. In no in-
stance hath nature made the satellite larger
than its primary planet; and as England and
America, with respect to each other, reverse
the common order of nature, it is evident that
they belong to differnt systems. England to
Europe: America to itself.

I am not induced by motives of pride, party,
or resentment to espouse the doctrine of sep-
aration and independence; I am clearly, posi-
tively, and conscientiously persuaded that it
is the true interest of this Continent to be so;
that every thing short of that is mere patch-
work, that it can afford no lasting felicity, —
that it is leaving the sword to our children,
and shrinking back at a time when a little
more, a little further, would have rendered this
Continent the glory of the earth.

As Britain hath not manifested the least in-
clination towards a compromise, we may be as-
sured that no terms can be obtained worthy
the acceptance of the Continent, or any ways
equal to the expense of blood and treasure we
have been already put to.

The object contended for, ought always to
bear some just proportion to the expense. The
removal of North, or the whole detestable
junto, is a matter unworthy the millions we
have expended. A temporary stoppage of trade
was an inconvenience, which would have suf-

*In some later editions "kingdoms." — Editor,

(JLLMA1GN SKNSE 49

ficiently balanced the repeal of all the acts
complained of, had such repeals been obtained;
but if the whole Continent must take up arms,
if every man must be a soldier, 'tis scarcely
worth our while to fight against a contempti-
ble ministry only. Dearly, dearly do we pay
for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight
for; for, in a just estimation 'tis as great a
folly to pay a Bunker-hill price for law as for
land. As I have always considered the inde-
pendancy of this Continent, as an event which
sooner or later must arrive, so from the late
rapid progress of the Continent to maturity,
the event cannot be far off. Wherefore, on the
breaking out of hostilities, it was not worth
the while to have disputed a matter which time
would have finally redressed, unless we meant
to be in earnest: otherwise it is like wasting
an estate on a suit at law, to regulate the
tresspasses of a tenant whose lease is just ex-
piring. No man was a warmer wisher for a
reconciliation than myself, before the fatal
nineteenth of April, 1775, but the moment the
event of that day was made known, I rejected
the hardened, sullen-tempered Pharoah of Eng-
land for ever; and disdain the wretch, that
with the pretended title of FATHER OF HIS PEO-
PLE can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and
composedly sleep with their blood upon his
soul.

But admitting that matters were now made
up, what would be the event? I answer, the
ruin of the Continent. And that for several
reasons.

First. The powers cf governing still rema/r-

50 COMMON SENSE

ing in the hands of the King, he will have a
negative over the whole legislation of this Con-
tinent. And as he hath shown himself such
an inveterate enemy to liberty, and discovered
such a thirst for arbitrary powers, is he, or is
he not, a proper person to say to these colonies,
You shall make, no laws1 but what I please!?
And is there any inhabitant of America so igno-
rant as not to know, that according to what is
called the present constitution, this Continent
can make no laws but what the king gives
leave to; and is there any man so unwise as
not to see, that (considering what has hap-
pened) he will suffer no law to be made here
but such as suits his purpose? We may be as
effectually enslaved by the want of laws in
America, as by submitting to laws made for us
in England. After matters are made up (as it
is called) can there be any doubt, but the whole
power of the crown will be exerted to keep this
continent as low and humble as possible? In-
stead of going forward we shall go backward,
or be perpetually quarrelling, or ridiculously
petitioning. We are already greater than tne
King wishes us to be, and will he not hereafter
endeavor to make us less? To bring the mat-
ter to one point, Is the power who is jealous
of our prosperity, a proper power to govern
us? Whoever says No, to this question, is an
Independant for independency means no more
than this, whether we shall make our own
laws, or, whether the King, the greatest enemy
this continent hath, or can have, shall tell us
there shall be no laws but such as I like.
But the King, you will say, has a negative

COMMON SENSE 51

in England; the people there can make no
laws without his consent. In point of right
and good order, it is something very ridicul-
ous that a youth of twenty-one (which hath
often happened) shall say to several millions
of people older and wiser than himself, "I for-
bid this or that act of yours to be law." But
in this place I decline this sort of reply,
though I will never cease to expose the ab-
surdity of it, and only answer that England
being the King's residence, and America not so,
makes quite another case. The King's nega-
tive here is ten times more dangerous and
fatal than it can be in England; for there he
will scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for
putting England into as strong a state of de-
fense as possible, and in America he would
never suffer such a bill to be passed.

America is only a secondary object in the
system of British politics. England consults
the good of this country no further than it
answers her own purpose. Wherefore, her own
interest leads her to suppress the growth of
ours in every case which doth not promote her
advantage, or in the least interferes with it.
A pretty state we should soon be in under such
a second hand government, considering what
has happened. Men do not change from ene-
mies to friends by the alteration of a name:
And in order to show that reconciliation now
is a, dangerous doctrine, I affirm, that it would
be policy in the King at this time to repeal the
acts, for the sake of reinstating himself in the
government of the provinces: In order that

HE MAY ACCOMPLISH BY CRAFT AND SUBTLETY, IN

52 COMMON SENSE

THE LONG RUN, WHAT HE CANNOT DO BY FORCE)
AND VIOLENCE IN THE SHORT ONE. ReCOncilia-

tion and ruin are nearly related.

Secondly. That as even the best terms
which we can expect to obtain can amount to
no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind
of government by guardianship, which can last
no longer than till the Colonies come of age,
so the general face and state of things in the
interim will be unsettled and unpromising.
Emigrants of property will not choose to come
to a country whose form of government hangs
but by a thread, and who is every day tottering
on the brink of commotion and disturbance;
and numbers of the present inhabitants would
lay hold of the interval to dispose of their ef-
fects, and quit the Continent.

But the most powerful of all arguments is,
that nothing but independance, i. e. a Contin-
ental form of government, can keep the peace
of the Continent and preserve it inviolate from
civil wars. I dread the event of a reconcilia-
tion with Britain now, as it is more than prob-
able that it will be followed by a revolt some
where or other, the consequences of which
may be far more fatal than all the malice of
Britain.

Thousands are already ruined by British bar-
barity; (thousands more will probably suffer
the same fate.) Those men have other feel-
ings than us who have nothing suffered. All
they now possess is liberty; what they before
enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having
nothing more to lose they disdain submission.
Besides, the general temper of the Colonies,

COMMON SENSE 53

towards a British government will be like that
of a youth who is nearly out of his time; they
will care very little about her: And a govern-
ment which cannot preserve the peace is no
government at all, and in that case we pay our
money for nothing; and pray what is it that
Britain can do, whose power will be wholly
on paper, should a civil tumult break out the
very day after reconciliation? I have heard
men say, many of whom I believe spoke with-
out thinking, that they dreaded an indepen-
dance, fearing that it would produce civil
wars: It is but seldom that our first thoughts
are truly correct, and that is the case here;
for there is ten times more to dread from a
patched up connection than from independ-
ance. I make the sufferer's case my own, and
I protest, that were I driven from house and
home, my property destroyed, and my circum-
stances ruined, that as a man, sensible of in-
juries, I could never relish the doctrine of
reconciliation, or consider myself bound there-
by.

The Colonies have manifested such a spirit
of good order and obedience to Continental
government, as is sufficient to make every rea-
sonable person easy and happy on that head.
No man can assign the least pretence for his
fears, on any other grounds, than such as are
truly childish and ridiculous, viz., that one
colony will be striving for superiority over an-
other.

Where there are no distinctions there can be
no superiority; perfect equality affords no
temptation. The Republics of Europe are all

64 COMMON SENSE

(and we may say always) in peace. Holland
and Switzerland are without wars, foreign or
domestic: Monarchial governments, it is true
are never long at rest: the crown itself is a
temptation to enterprising ruffians at home;
and that degree of pride and insolence ever at
tendant on regal authority, swells into a rup
ture with foreign powers in instances where &
republican government, by being formed on
more natural principles, would negotiate thvi
mistake.

If there is any true cause of fear respecting
independance, it is because no plan is yet laid
down. Men do not see their way out. Where-
fore, as an opening into that business I offer
the following hints; at the same time modestly
affirming, that I have no other opinion of them
myself, than that they may be the means of
giving rise to something better. Could the
straggling thoughts of individuals be collected,
they would frequently form materials for wise
and able men to improve into useful matter.

Let the assemblies be annual, with a presi-
dent only. The representation more equal,
their business wholly domestic, and subject -to
the authority of a Continental Congress.

Let each Colony be divided into six, eight,
or ten, convenient districts, each district to
cend a proper number of Delegates to Congress,
so that each Colony send at least thirty. The
whole number in Congress will be at least 390.
Each congress to sit and to choose a President
by the following method. When the Delegates
are met, let a Colony be taken from the whole
thirteen Colonies by lot, after which let the

COMMON SENSE 6B

Congress choose (by ballot) a president from
out of the Delegates of that Province. In the
next Congress, let a Colony be taken by lot
from twelve only, omitting that Colony from
which the president was taken in the former
Congress, and so proceeding on till the whole
thirteen shall have had their proper rotation.
And in order that nothing may pass into a law
but what is satisfactorily just, not less than
three fifths of the Congress to be called a
majority. He that will promote discord, un-
der a government so equally formed as this,
would have joined Lucifer in his revolt.

But as there is a peculiar delicacy from
whom, or in what manner, this business must
first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and
consistent that it sould come from some inter-
mediate body between the governed and the
governors, that is, between the Congress and
the People, let a Continental Conference be
held in the following manner, and for the fol-
lowing purpose,

A Committee of twenty-six members of con-
gress, viz. Two for each Colony. Two Members
from each House of Assembly, or Provincial
Convention: and five Representatives of the
people at large, to be chosen in the capital city
or town of each Province, for, and in behalf of
the whole Province, by as many qualified vot-
ers as shall think proper to attend from all
parts of the Province for that purpose; or, if
more convenient, the Representatives may be
chosen in two or three of the most populous
parts thereof. In this conference, thus as-
sembled, will be united the two grand prin-

66 COMMON SENSE

ciples of business, knowledge and power. The
Members of Congress, Assemblies, or Conven-
tions, by having had experience in national
concerns, will be able and useful counsellors,
and the whole, being impowered by the people,
will have a truly legal authority.

The conferring members being met, let their
business be to frame a Continental Charter, or
Charter of the United Colonies; (answering
what is called the Magna Charta of England)
fixing the nttmber and manner of choosing
Members of Congress, Members of Assembly,
with their date of sitting; and drawing the line
of business and jurisdiction between them: Al-
ways remembering, that our strength is Conti-
nental, not provincial. Securing freedom and
property to all men, and above all things, the
free exercise of religion, according to the dic-
tates of conscience; with such other matter as
it is necessary for a charter to contain. Imme-
diately after which, the said conference to dis-
solve, and the bodies which shall be chosen
conformable to the said charter, to be the Leg-
islators and Governors of this Continent for
the time being: Whose peace and happiness,
may GOD preserve. AMEN.

Should any body of men be hereafter dele-
gated for this or some similar purpose, I offer
them the following extracts from that wise ob-
server on Governments, Dragonetti. "The
science," says he, "of the Politician consists in
fixing the true point of happiness and freedom.
Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages,
who should discover a mode of government
that contained the greatest sum of individual

COMMON SENSE 57

happiness, with the least national expense."
(Dragonetti on "Virtues and Reward.")

But where, say some, is the King of Ameri-
ca? I'll tell you, friend, he reigns above, and
doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal
Brute of Great Britain. Yet that we may not
appear to be defective even in earthly honours,
let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming
the Charter; let it be brought forth placed on
the Divine Law, the Word of God; let a crown
be placed thereon, by which the world may
know, that so far as we approve of monarchy,
that in America the law is king. For as in
absolute governments the King is law, so in
free countries the law ought to be king; and
there ought to be no other. But lest any ill
use should afterwards arise, let the Crown at
the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished,
and scattered among the people whose right it
is.

A government of our own is our natural
right: and when a man seriously reflects on
the precariousness of human affairs, he will
become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser
and safer, to form a constitution of our own
in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it
in our power, than to trust such an interesting
event to time and chance. If we omit it now,
some Massanello* may hereafter arise, who,

"Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fish-
erman of Naples, who after spiriting up his
countrymen in- the public market place, against
the oppression of the Spaniards, to whom the
place was then subject, prompted them to revolt,
and in the space of a day became Kine:. — Author.

58 COMMON SENSE

laying hold of popular disquietudes, may col-
lect together the desperate and the discon-
tented, and by assuming to themselves the
powers of government, finally sweep away the
liberties of the Continent like a deluge. Should
the government of America return again into
the hands of Britain, the tottering situation of
things will be a temptation for some desperate
adventurer to try his fortune; and in such a
case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she
could hear the news, the fatal business might
be done; and ourselves suffering like the
wretched Britons under the oppression of the
Conqueror. Ye that oppose independance now,
ye know not what ye do: ye are opening a door
to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat
of government. There are thousands and tens
of thousands, who would think it glorious to
expel from the Continent, that barbarous and
hellish power, which hath stirred up the In-
dians and the Negroes to destroy us; the
cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brut-
ally by us, and treacherously by them.

To talk of friendship with those in whom
our reason forbids us to have faith, and our
affections wounded thro' a thousand pores in-
struct us to detest, is madness and folly.
Every day wears out the little remains of
kindred between us and them; and can there
be any reason to hope, that as the relationship
expires, the affection will encrease, or that we
shall agree better when we have ten times more
and greater concerns to quarrel over than ever?

Ye that tell ns of harmony and reconciliation,
can ye restore to us the time that is past?

COMMON SENSE 59

Can ye give to prostitution its former inno-
cence? neither can ye reconcile Britain and
America. The last cord now is broken, the
people of England are presenting addresses
against us. There are injuries which .nature
cannot forgive; she would cease to be nature if
she did. As well can the lover forgive the
ravisher of his mistress, as the Continent for-
give the murders of Britain. The Almighty
hath implanted in us these unextinguishable
feelings for good and wise purposes. They are
the Guardians of his Image in our hearts. They
distinguish us from the herd of common oni-
mals. The social compact would dissolve, and
justice be extirpated from the earth, or have
only a casual existence were we callous to the
touches of affection. The robber and the mur-
derer would often escape unpunished, did not
the injuries which our tempers sustain, pro-
voke us into justice.

0! ye that love mankind! Ye that dare op-
pose not only the tyranny but the tyrant, stand
forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun
with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted
round the Globe. Asia and Africa have long
expelled her. Europe regards her like a stran-
ger, and England hath given her warning to
depart. 0! receive the fugitive, and prepare
in time an asylum for mankind.

(to COMMON SENSE

OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA! WITH
SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLECTIONS.

I HAVE never met with a man, either in En-
gland or America, who hath not confessed his
opinion, that a separation between the countries
would take place one time or other: And
there is no instance in which we have shown
less judgment, than in endeavoring to describe,
what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the
continent for independence.

As all men allow the measure, and vary only
in their opinion of the time, let us, in order to
remove mistakes, take a general survey of
things, and endeavor if possible to find out the
very time. But I need not go far, the inquiry
ceases at once, for the time hath found us. The
general concurrence, the glorious union of all
things, proves the fact.

}Tis not in numbers but in unity that our
great strength lies: yet our present numbers
are sufficient to repel the force of all the world.
The Continent hath at this time the largest
body of armed and disciplined men of any
power under Heaven: and is just arrived at
that pitch of strength, in which no single col-
ony is able to support itself, and the whole,
when united, is able to do any thing. Our land
force is more than sufficient, and as to Naval
affairs, we cannot be insensible that Britain

COMMON SENSE 61

would never suffer an American man of war
to be built, while the Continent remained in her
hands. Wherefore, we should be no forwarder
an hundred years hence in that branch than
we are now; but the truth is, we should be
less so, because the timber of the Country is
every day~ diminishing, and that which will re-
main at last, will be far off or difficult to pro-
cure.

Were the Continent crowded with inhabitants,
her sufferings under the present circumstances
would be intolerable. The more seaport-towns
we had, the more should we have both to de-
fend and to lose. Our present numbers are so
happily proportioned to our wants, that no man
need be idle. The diminution of trade affords
an army, and the necessities of an army create
a new trade.

Debts we have none: and whatever we may
contract on this account will serve as a glori-
ous memento of our virtue. Can we but leave
posterity with a settled form of government, an
independent constitution of its own, the pur-
chase at any price will be cheap. But to ex-
pend millions for the sake of getting a few vile
acts repealed, and routing the present minis-
try only, is unworthy the charge, and is using
posterity with the utmost cruelty; because it
is leaving them the great work to do, and a
debt upon their backs from which they derive
no advantage. Such a thought 's unworthy a
man of honour, and is the true characteristic
of a narrow heart and a piddling politician.

The debt we may contract doth not deserve
our regard if the work be but accomplished

62 COMMON SENSE

No nation ought to be without a debt. A na-
tional debt is a national bond; and when it
bears no interest, is in no case a grievance. Brit-
ain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of one
hundred and forty millions sterling, for which
she pays upwards of four millions interest. And
as a compensation for her debt, she has a large
navy; America is without a debt, and without a
navy; yet for the twentieth part of the English
national debt, could have a navy as large again.
The navy of England is not worth at this time
more than three millions and a half sterling.

The first and second editions of this pamph-
let were published without the following cal-
culations, which are now given as a proof that
the above estimation of the navy is a just one.
See Entic's "Naval History," Intro., p. 56.

The charge of building a ship of each rate,
and furnishing her with masts, yards, sails, and
rigging, together with a proportion of eight
months boatswain's and carpenter's sea-stores,
as calculated by Mr. Burchett, Secretary to the
navy.

For a ship of 100 guns, . . 35.553 1.
90 29,886

80
70
60
50
40
30
20

23.638

17,785

14,197

10.606

7,558

5.846

3,710

And hence it is easy to sum up the value, or
cost, rather, of the whole British navy, which,
in the year 1757, when it was at its greatest

COMMON SENS 12 63

glory, consisted of the following ships and guns.

Ships

Guns

Cost of One

Cost of All

6

100

55,553 1. .

213,318 1.

12

90

29886

358,632

12

SO

23,638

283 656

43

70

17,785

764,755

35

60

14,197

496,895

40

50

10,605

424,240

45

40

7,558

340,110

58

20

3,710

215,180

85 sloops, bombs, and
fireships, one with
another at 2,000 . 170,000

Cost . 3,266,7861.
Remains for guns, . 233,214

Total, . 3,500,000 1.

No country on the globe is so happily situated,
or so internally capable of raising a fleet as
America. Tar, timber, iron, and cordage are
her natural produce. We need go abroad for
nothing. Whereas the Dutch, who make large
profits by hiring out their ships of war to the
Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import
most of the materials they use. We ought to
view the building a fleet as an article of com-
merce, it being the natural manufactory of this
country. 'Tis the best money we can lay out.
A navy when finished is worth more than it
cost: And is that nice point in national policy,
in which commerce and protection are united.
Let us build; if we want them not, we can sell;
and by that means replace our paper currency
with ready geld and silver.

In point of manning a fleet, people in gen-
eral run into great errors; it is not necessary
that one-fourth part should be sailors. Thqj

64 COMMON SENSE

Terrible privateer, captain Death, stood the hot-
test engagement of any ship last war, yet had
not twenty sailors on board, though her com-
plement of men was upwards of two hundred.
A few able and social sailors will soon instruct
a sufficient number of active landsmen in the
common work of a ship. Wherefore we never
can be more capable of beginning on maritime
matters than now, while our timber is stand-
ing, our fisheries blocked up, and our sailors
and shipwrights out of employ. Men of war, of
seventy and eighty guns, were built forty years
naso in New England, and why not the same
now? Ship building is America's greatest pride,
and in which sheffl|ll, in time, excel the whole
j -world. The great aingbires of the east are mainly
] inland, and consequently excluded from the pos-
isibility of rivallingjfidtier. Africa is in a state of
lf)arbarism ; and no h^pwer in Europe hath either
'such an extent of cjaast, or such an internal sup-
ply of materials. Jwfhere nature hath given the
one, she hath withheld the other; to America
only hath she been liberal to both. The vast
empire of Russia is almost shut out from the
sea; wherefore her boundless forests, her tar,
iron and cordage are only articles of commerce.
In point of safety, ought we to be without a
fleet? We are not the little people now which
we were sixty years ago ; at that time we might
have trusted our property in the streets, or
fields rather, and slept securely without locks
or bolts to our doors and windows. The case
is now altered, and our methods of defence
ought to improve with our increase of property.
A common pirate, twelve months ago, might

SENSE kb

have coine up the Delaware, and laid the city of
Philadelphia under contribution for what sum
he pleased; and the same might have happened
to other places. Nay, any daring fellow, in a
brig of fourteen or sixteen guns, might have
robbed the whole Continent, and carried off half
a million of money. These are circumstances
which demand our attention, and point out the
necessity of naval protection.

Some perhaps will say, that after we have
made it up with Britain, she will protect us.
Can they be so unwise as to mean that she will
keep a navy in our harbors for that purpose?
Common sense will tell us that the power
which hath endeavoured to subdue ^us, is of all
others the most improper to defend us. Con-
quest may be effected under the pretence of
friendship; and ourselves, after a long and
brave resistance, be at last cheated into slavery.
And if her ships are not to be admitted into
our harbours, I would ask, how is she going to
protect us? A navy three or four thousand
miles off can be of little use, and on sudden
emergencies, none at all. • Wherefore if we must
hereafter protect ourselves, why not do it for
ourselves? Why do it for another?

The English list of ^hips of war is long and
formidable, but not a tenth part of them are at
any time fit for service, numbers of them are
not in being; yet their names are pompously
continued in the list, if only a plank be left of
the ship; and not a fifth part of such as are
fit for service can be spared on any one station
at one time. The East and West Indies, Med-
iterranean, Africa, and other parts, over which

66 COMMON SENS15

Britain extends her claim, make large demands
upon her navy. From a mixture of prejudice
and inattention we have contracted a false no-
tion respecting the navy of England, and have
talked as if we should have the whole of it to
encounter at once, and for that reason sup-
posed that we must have one as large; which
not being instantly practicable, has been made
use of by a set of disguised Tories to discourage
our beginning thereon. Nothing can be further
from truth than this; for if America had only
a twentieth part of the naval force of Britain,
she would be by far an over-match for her; be-
cause, as we neither have, nor claim any for-
eign dominion, our whole force would be em-
ployed on our. own coast, where we should, in
the long run, have two to one the advantage of
those who had three or four thousand miles to
sail over before they could attack us, and the
same distance to return in order to refit and
recruit. And although Britain, by her fleet,
hath a check over our trade to Europe, we
have as large a one over her trade to the West
Indies, which, by laying in the neighborhood of
the Continent, lies entirely at its mercy.

Some method might be fallen on to keep up
a naval force in time of peace, if we should
judge it necessary to stfpport a constant navy.
If premiums were to be given to merchants to
build and employ in their service ships mounted
with twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty guns (the
premiums to be in proportion to the loss of
bulk to the merchant), fifty or sixty of those
ships, with a few guardships on constant duty,
would keep up a sufficient navy, and that with-

COMMON SENSE 67

out burdening ourselves with the evil so loudly
complained of in England, of suffering their
fleet in time of peace to lie rotting in the docks.
To unite the sinews of commerce and defence is
sound policy; for when our strength and our
riches play into each other's hand, we need fear
no external enemy.

In almost every article of defence we
abound. Hemp flourishes even to rankness, so
that we need not want cordage. Our iron is
superior to that of other countries. Our small
arms equal to any in the world. Cannon we can
cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we
are every day producing. Our knowledge is
hourly improving. Resolution is our inherent
character, and courage hath never yet forsaken
us. Wherefore, what is it that we want? Why
is it that we hesitate? From Britain we can
expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admit-
ted to the government of America again, this
Continent will not be worth living in. Jeal-
ousies will be always arising; insurrections will
be constantly happening; and who will go forth
to quell them? Who will venture his life to
reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedi-
ence? The difference between Pennsylvania and
Connecticut, respecting some unlocated lands,
shows the insignificance of a British govern-
ment, and fully proves that nothing but Conti-
nental authority can regulate Continental mat-
ters.

Another reason why the present time is pre-
ferable to all others is, that the fewer our
numbers are, the more land there is yet unoc-
cupied, which, instead of being lavished by the

68 COMMON SENSE

king on his worthless dependents, may be here-
after applied, not only to the discharge of the
present debt, but to the constant support of gov-
ernment. No nation under Heaven hath such
an advantage as this.

The infant state of the Colonies, as it is
called, so far from being against, is an argument
in favour of independence. We are sufficiently
numerous, and were we more so we might be
less united. ''Tis a matter worthy of observa-
tion that the more a country is peopled, the
smaller their armies are. In military numbers,
the ancients far exceeded the moderns; and the
reason is evident, for trade being the conse-
quence of population, men became too much
absorbed thereby to attend to anything else.
Commerce diminishes the spirit both of patri-
otism and military defence. And history suffi-
ciently informs us that the bravest achieve-
ments were always accomplished in the non-age-
of a nation. With the increase of commerce
England hath lost its spirit. The city of Lon-
don, notwithstanding its numbers, submits to
continued insults with the patience of a coward.
The more men have to lose, the less willing are
they to venture. The rich are in general slaves
to fear, and submit to courtly power with the
trembling duplicity of a spaniel.

Youth is the seed-time of good habits as well
in nations as in individuals. It might be diffi-
cult, if not impossible, to form the Continent
into one government half a century hence. The
vast variety of interests, occasioned by an in-
crease of trade and population, would create
confusion. Colony would be against colony.

COMMON SENSE 69

Each being able would scorn each other's as
sistance; and while the proud and foolish
gloried in their little distinctions the wise would
lament that the union had not been formed be-
fore. Wherefore the present time is the true
time for establishing it. The intimacy which is
contracted in infancy, and the friendship which
is formed in misfortune, are of all others the
most lasting and unalterable. Our present union
is marked with both these characters; we are
young, and we have been distressed; but our
concord hath withstood our troubles, and fixes
a memorable era for posterity to glory in.

The present time, likewise, is that peculiar
time which never happens to a nation but once,
viz., the time of forming itself into a govern-
ment. Most nations have let slip the oppor-
tunity, and by that means Jiave been compelled
to receive laws from their conquerors, instead
of making laws for themselves. First, they
had a king, and then a form of government;
whereas the articles or charter of government
should be formed first, and men delegated to
execute them afterwards; but from the errors
of other nations let us learn wisdom, and lay
hold of the present opportunity — to begin gov-
ernment at the right end.

When William the Conqueror subdued
England, he gave them law at the point of the
sword; and, until we consent that the seat of
government in America be legally and author-
itatively occupied, we shall be in danger of
having it filled by some fortunate ruffian, who
may treat us in the same manner, and then,

70 COMMON SEN?K

where will be our freedom? where our prop-
erty?

As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensa-
ble duty of government to protect all consci-
entious professors thereof, and I know of no
other business which government hath to do
therewith. Let a man throw aside that narrow-
ness of soul, that selfishness of principle, which
the niggards of all professions are so unwilling
to part with, and he will be at once delivered
of his fears on that head. Suspicion is thy
companion of mean souls, and the bane of ell
good society. For myself, I fully and conscien-
tiously believe that it is the will of the Al-
mighty that there should be a diversity of re-
ligious opinions among us. It affords a larger
field for our Christian kindness; were we all of
one way of thinking, our religious dispositions
would want matter for probation; and on this
liberal principle I look on the various denom-
inations among us to be like children of the
same family, differing only in what is called
their Christian names.

In page [97] I threw out a few thoughts on
the propriety of a Continental Charter (for I
only presume to offer hiijits, not plans) and in
this place I take the liberty of re-mentioning
the subject, by observing that a charter is to be
understood as a bond of solemn obligation,
which the whole enters into, to support the
right of every separate part, whether of re-
ligion, professional freedom, or property. A
firm bargain and a right reckoning make long
friends.

I have heretofore likewise mentioned the ne-

COMMON SENSE 71

cessity of a large and equal representation;
and there is no political matter which more
deserves our attention. A small number of
electors, or a small number of representatives,
are equally dangerous. But if the number of
the representatives be not only small, but un-
equal, the danger is increased. As an instance
of this, I mention the following: when the peti-
tion of the associators was before the House
of Assembly of Pennsylvania, twenty-eight
members only were present; all the Bucks
county members, being eight, voted against it,
and had seven of the Chester members done
the same, this whole province had been gov-
erned by two counties only; and this danger it
is always exposed to. The unwarrantable
stretch likewise, which that house made in
their last sitting, to gain an undue authority
over the delegates of that province, ought to
warn the people at large how they trust power
out of their own hands. A set of instructions
for their delegates were put together, which in
point of sense and business would have dis-
honoured a school-boy, and after being ap-
proved by a few, a very few, without doors,
were carried into the house, and there passed
in 'behalf of the whole colony; whereas, did the
whole colony know with what ill will that house
had entered on some necessary public measures,
they would not hesitate a moment to think them
unworthy of such a trust.

Immediate necessity makes many things con-
venient, which if continued would grow into
oppressions. Expedience and right are different
things. When the calamities of America re-

72 COMMON SENSE

quired a consultation, there was no method so
ready, or at that time so proper, as to appoint
persons from the several houses of assembly
for that purpose; and the wisdom with which
they have proceeded hath preserved this Con-
tinent from ruin. But as it is more than prob-
able that we shall never be without a CONGRESS,
every well wisher to good order must own that
the mode for choosing members of that body
deserves consideration. And I put it as a ques-
tion to those who make a study of mankind,
whether representation and election is not too
great a power for one and the same body of men
to possess? When we are planning for pos-
terity, we ought to remember that virtue is not
hereditary.

It is from our enemies that we often gain
excellent maxims, and are frequently surprised
into reason by their mistakes. Mr. Cornwall
(one of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the
petition of the New York Assembly with con-
tempt, because that house, he said, consisted
but of twenty-six members, which trifling num-
ber, he argued, could not with decency be put
for the whole. We thank him for his involun-
tary honesty.*

To CONCLUDE, however strange it may appear
to some, or however unwilling they may be to
think so, matters not, but many strong and
striking reasons may be given to show that
nothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously

*Those whp would fully understand of
what great consequence a large and equal repre-
sentation is to a state, should read Burgh's Po-
litical Disquisitions. — Author.

COMMON SENSE 73

as an open and determined declaration for inde-
pendence. Some of which are,

First — It is the custom of Nations, when any
two are at war, for some other powers, not en-
gaged in the quarrel, to step in as mediators,
and bring about the preliminaries of a peace;
But while America calls herself the subject of
Great Britain, no power, however well disposed
she may be, can offer her mediation. Where-
fore, in our present state we may quarrel on for
ever.

Secondly — It is unreasonable to suppose that
France or Spain will give us any kind of as-
sistance, if we mean only to make use of that
assistance for the purpose of repairing the
breach, and strengthening the connection be-
tween Britain and America; because, those
powers would be sufferers by the consequences.

Thirdly — While we profess ourselves the sub-
jects of Britain, we must, in the eyes of foreign
nations, be considered as Rebels. The precedent
is somewhat dangerous to their peace, for men
to be in arms under the name of subjects; we,
on the spot, can solve the paradox; but to unite
resistance and subjection requires an idea much
too refined for common understanding.

Fourthly— Were a manifesto to be published,
and despatched to foreign Courts, setting forth
the miseries we have endured, and the peaceful
methods which we have ineffectually used for
redress; declaring at the same time that not
being able longer to live happily or safely under
the cruel disposition of the British Court, we
had been driven to the necessity of breaking
off all connections with her; at the same time,

7C , COMMON SENSE

assuring all such Courts of our peaceable dis-
position towards them, and of our desire of
entering into trade with them; such a me-
morial would produce more good effects to this
Continent than if a ship were freighted with
petitions to Britain.

Under our present denomination of British
subjects, we can neither be received nor heard
abroad; the custom of all Courts is against us,
and will be so, until by an independence we
take rank with other nations.

These proceedings may at first seem strange
and difficult, but like all other steps which we
have already passed over, will in a little time
become familiar and agreeable; and until an
independence is declared, the Continent will feel
itself like a man who continues putting off
some unpleasant business from day to day, yet
knows it must be done, hates to set about it,
wishes it over, and is continually haunted with
the thoughts of its necessity.

COMMON SENSE 75

APPENDIX TO COMMON SENSE.

SINCE the publication of the first edition of
this pamphlet, or rather, on the same day on
which it came out, the King's Speech made its
appearance in this city [Philadelphia]. Had the
spirit of prophecy directed the birth of this
production, it could not have brought it forth
at a more seasonable juncture, or at a more
necessary time. The bloody-mindedness of the
one shows the necessity of pursuing the doc-
trine of the other. Men read by way of re-
venge. And the speech, instead of terrifying,
prepared a way for the manly principles of
Independence.

Ceremony, and even silence, from whatever
motives they may arise, have a hurtful ten-
dency when they give the least degree of coun-
tenance to base and wicked performances;
wherefore, if this maxim is admitted, it natur-
ally follows that the King's Speech, as being a
piece of finished villainy, deserved and still de-
serves, a general execration, both by the Con-
gress and the people. Yet, as the domestic
tranquility of a nation depends largely on the
cJiastity of what might properly be called NA-
TIONAL MANNERS, it is often better to pass some
things over in silent disdain than to make use
of such new methods of dislike as might intro-
duce the least innovation on tliat guardian of
our peace and safety. And, perhaps, it is chiefly

76 COMMON SENSE

owing to this prudent delicacy that the King's
Speech hath not before now suffered a public
execution. The speech, if it may be called one,
is nothing better than a wilful audacious libel
against the truth, the common good, and the
existence of mankind; and is a formal and pom-
pous method of offering up human sacrifices to
the pride of tyrants. But this general massacre
of mankind is one of the privileges and the
certain consequences of kings; for as nature
knows them not, they know not her, and al-
though they are beings of our own* creating,
they know not us, and are become the Gods of
their creators. The speech hath one good qual-
ity, which is, that it is not calculated to de-
ceive, neither can we, even if we would, be
deceived by it. Brutality and tyranny appear
on the face of it. It leaves us at no loss: And
every line convinces, even in the moment of
reading, that he who hunts the woods for prey,
the naked and untutored Indian, is less Savage
than the King of Britain.

Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a
whining Jesuitical piece, fallaciously called
"The address of the people of England to the
inhabitants of America," hath perhaps from a
vain supposition that the people here were to
be frightened at the pomp and description of a
king, given (though very unwisely on his part)
the real character of the present one: "But,"
says this writer, "if you are inclined to pay
compliments to an administration, which we do
not complain of (meaning the Marquis of Rock-
ingham's at the repeal of the Stamp Act) it is
very unfair in you to withhold them from that

COMMON SENSE 77

prince, by ivhose NOD ALONE they were permitted
to do any thing." This is toryism with a wit-
ness! Here is idolatry even without a mask:
And he who can calmly hear and digest such
doctrine, hath- forfeited his claim to rational-
ity— an apostate from the order of manhood —
and ought to be considered as one who hath not
only given up the proper dignity of man, but
sunk himself beneath the rank of animals, and
contemptibly crawls through the world like a
worm.

However,, it matters very little now what the
king of England either says or does; he hath
wickedly broken through every moral and hu-
man obligation, trampled nature and conscience
beneath his feet, and by a steady and constitu-
tional spirit of insolence and cruelty procured
for himself an universal hatred. It is now the
interest of America to provide for herself. She
hath already a large and young family, whom
it is more her duty to take care of than to be
granting away her property to support a power
who is become a reproach to the names of men
and Christians — YE, whose office it is to watch
the morals of a nation, of whatsoever sect or
denomination ye are of, as well as ye who are
more immediately the guardians of the public
liberty, if ye wish to preserve your native
country uncontaminated by European corrup-
tion, ye must in secret wish a separation. But
leaving the moral part to private reflection, I
shall chiefly confine my further remarks to the
following heads:

First, That it fs to the interest of America to
be separated from Britain.

78 COMMON SENSE

Secondly, Which is the easiest and most prac-
ticable plan, RECONCILIATION OF INDEPENDENCE?

with some occasional remarks.

In support of the first, I could, if I judged
it proper, produce the opinion of some of the
ablest and most experienced men on this con-
tinent; and whose sentiments on that head are
not yet publicly known. It is in reality a self-
evident position: for no nation in a state of
foreign dependance, limited in its commerce,
and cramped and fettered in its legislative
powers, can ever arrive at any material emi-
nence. America doth not yet know what opu-
lence is; and although the progress which she
hath made stands unparalleled in the history of
other nations, it is but childhood compared with
what she would be capable of striving at, had
she, as she ought to have, the legislative powers
in her own hands. England is at this time
proudly coveting what would do her no good
were she to accomplish it; and the continent
hesitating on a matter which will be her final
ruin if neglected. It is the commerce and not
the conquest of America by which England is
to be benefited, and that would in a great
measure continue were the countries as inde-
pendent of each other as France and Spain;
because in many articles neither can go to a
better market. But it is the independance of
this country of Britain, or any other, which is
now the main and only object worthy of con-
tention, and which, like all other truths discov-
ered by necessity, will appear clear and
stronger every day.

COMMON SENSE 79

First, Because it will come to that one time
or other.

Secondly, Because the longer it is delayed the
harder it will be to accomplish.

I have frequently amused myself both in
public and private companies with silently re-
marking the specious errors of those who speak
without reflecting. And among the many
which I have heard, the following seems the
most general, viz. that had this rupture hap-
pened forty or fifty years hence, instead of now,
the continent would have been more able to
have shaken off the independence. To which I
reply, that our military ability, at this time,
arises from the experience gained in the last
war, and which in forty or fifty years time
would be totally extinct. The continent would
not, by that time, have a general, or even a
military officer left; and we, or those who may
succeed us, would be as ignorant of martial
matters as the ancient Indians; and this single
position, closely attended to, will unanswerably
prove that the present time is preferable to all
others. The argument turns thus: At the con-
clusion of the last war we had experience, but
wanted numbers ; and forty or fifty years hence
we shall have numbers, without experience;
wherefore, the proper point of time must be
some particular point between the two extremes,
in which a sufficiency of the former remains,
and a proper increase of the latter is obtained:
And that point of time is the present time.

The reader will pardon this digression, as it
does not properly come under the head I first

80 COMMON SENSE

set out with, and to which I again return by the
following position, viz.:

Should affairs be patched up with Britain,
and she to remain the governing and sovereign
power of America (which, as matters are now
circumstanced, is giving up the point entirely)
we shall deprive ourselves of the very means
of sinking the debt we have, or may contract.
The value of the back lands, which some of the
provinces are clandestinely deprived of, by the
unjust extension of the limits of Canada, valued
only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres,
amount to upward of twenty-five millions, Penn-
sylvania currency; and the quit-rents, at one
penny sterling per acre, to two millions yearly.

It is by the sale of those lands that the debt
may be sunk, without burthen to any, and the
quit-rent reserved thereon will always lessen,
and in time will wholly support the yearly ex-
pense of government. It matters not how long
the debt is in paying, so that the lands when
sold be applied to the discharge of it, and for
the execution of which the Congress for the
time being will be the continental trustees.

I proceed now to the second head, viz.
Which is the easiest and most practicable plan,
Reconciliation or Independence, with some occa-
sional remarks.

He who takes nature for his guide is not
easily beaten out of his argument, and on that
ground, I answer generally — That independance
"being a single simple line, contained within our-
selves; and reconciliation, a matter exceedingly
perplexed and complicated, and in which a

COMMON SENSE 81

treacherous capricious court is to interfere,
gives the answer without a doubt.

The present state of America is truly alarm-
ing to every man who is capable of reflection.
Without law, without government, without any
other mode of power than what is founded on,
and granted by, courtesy. Held together by an
unexampled occurrence of sentiment, which is
nevertheless subject to change, and which every
secret enemy is endeavoring to dissolve. Our
present condition is Legislation without law;
wisdom without a plan; a constitution without
a name; and, what is strangely astonishing,
perfect independance contending for dependance.
The instance is without a precedent, the case
never existed before, and who can tell what
may be the event? The property of no man is
secure in the present unbraced system of
things. The mind of the multitude is left at
random, and seeing no fixed object before them,
they pursue such as fancy or opinion presents.
Nothing is criminal; there is no such thing as
treason ; wherefore, every one thinks himself at
liberty to act as he pleases. The Tories would
not have dared to assemble offensively had they
known that their lives, by that act, were for*- j
feited to the laws of the state. A line of dis-
tinction should be drawn between English sol-
diers taken in battle, and inhabitants of Amer-
ica taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but
the latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty,
the other his head.

Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a vis-
ible feebleness in some of our proceedings which

82 COMMON SENSE

gives encouragement to dissentions. The Con-
tinental Belt is too loosely buckled: And if
something is not done in time, it will be too late
to do any thing, and we shall fall into a state
in which neither Reconciliation nor Indepen-
dance will be practicable. The king and his
worthless adherents are got at their old game
of dividing the Continent, and there are not
wanting among us Printers who will be busy in
spreading specious falsehoods. The artful and
hypocritical letter which appeared a few months
ago in two of the New York papers, and like-
wise in two others, is an evidence that there are
men who want both judgment and honesty.

It is easy getting into holes and corners, and
talking of reconciliation: But do such men
seriously consider how difficult the task is, and
how dangerous it may prove, should the Con-
tinent divide thereon? Do they take within
their view all the various orders of men whose
situation and circumstances, as well as their
own, are to be considered therein? Do they put
themselves in the place of the sufferer whose
all is already gone, and of the soldier, who hath
quitted all for the defence of his country? If
their ill-judged moderation be suited to their
own private situations only, regardless of
others, the event will convince them that "they
are reckoning without their host."

Put us, say some, on the footing we were in
the year 1763: To which I answer, the request
^ not now in the power of Britain to comply
with, neither will she propose it; but if it
were, and even should be granted, I ask, as a

COMMON SENSE 83

reasonable question, By what means is such a
corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its
engagements? Another parliament, nay, even
the present, may hereafter repeal the obliga-
tion, on the pretence of its being violently ob-
tained, or unwisely granted; and, in that case.
Where is our redress? No going to law with
nations; cannon are the barristers of crowns;
and the sword, not of justice, but of war, de-
cides the suit. To be on the footing of 1763, it
is not sufficient that the laws only be put in
the same state, but that our circumstances like-
wise be put in the same state; our burnt and
destroyed towns repaired or built up, our pri-
vate losses made good, our public debts (con-
tracted for defence) discharged; otherwise we
shall be millions worse than we were at that
enviable period. Such a request, had it been
complied with a year ago, would have won the
heart and soul of the Continent, but now it is-
too late. "The Rubicon is passed."

Besides, the taking up arms, merely to en-
force the repeal of a pecuniary law, seems as
unwarrantable by the divine law, and as re-
pugnant to human feelings, as the taking up
arms to enforce obedience thereto. The object,
on either side, doth not justify the means; for
the lives of men are too valuable to be cast
away on such trifles. It is the violence which
is done and threatened to our persons; the
destruction of our property by an armed force;
the invasion of our country by fire and sword,
which conscientiously qualifies the use of
arms: and the instant in which such mode of

S4 COMMON SENSE

defence became necessary, all subjection to
Britain ought to have ceased; and the indepen-
dence of America should have been considered
as dating its era from, and published by, the
first musket that was fired against her. This
line is a line of consistency; neither drawn by
caprice, nor extended by ambition; but pro-
duced by a chain of events, of which the colo-
nies were not the authors.

I shall conclude these remarks, with the fol-
lowing timely and well-intended hints. We
ought to reflect, that there are three different
ways by which an independancy may hereafter
be effected; and that one of those three, will,
one day or other, be the fate of America, viz.
By the legal voice of the people in Congress;
by a military power; or by a mob: It may
not always happen that our soldiers are citi-
zens, and the multitude a body of reasonable
men; virtue, as I have already remarked, is
not hereditary, neither is it perpetual. Should
an. independancy be brought about by the first
of those means, we have every opportunity and
every encouragement before us, to form the
noblest, purest constitution on the face of the
earth. We have it in our power to begin the
world over again. A situation, similar to the
present, hath not happened since the days of
Noah until now. The birthday of a new world
1s at 'hand, and a race of men, perhaps as num-
erous as all Europe contains, are to receive
their portion of freedom from the events of a
few months. The reflection is awful, and in
this point of view, how trifling, how ridiculous,
do the little paltry cavil ings of a few weak or

COMMON SENSE 85

interested men appear, when weighed against
the business of a world.

Should we neglect the present favorable and
inviting period, and independence be hereafter
effected by any other means, we must charge
the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather
whose nafrow and prejudiced souls are habit-
ually opposing the measure, without either in-
quiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be
given in support of independence which men
should rather privately think of, than be pub-
licly cold of. We ought not now to be debating
whether we shall be independent or not, but
anxious to accomplish it on a firm, secure, and
honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it is
not yet begun upon. Every day convinces us of
its necessity. Even the Tories (if such beings
yet remain among us) should, of all men, be the
most solicitous to promote it; for as the ap-
pointment of committees at first protected
them from popular rage, so, a wise and well
established form of government will be the only
certain means of continuing it securely to them.
Wherefore, if they have not virtue enough to
be WHIGS, they ought to have prudence enough
to wish for independence.

In short, Independence is the only BOND that
ties and keep us together. We shall then see
our object, and our ears will be legally shut
against the schemes of an intriguing, as well
as cruel, enemy. We shall then, too, be on a
proper footing to treat with Britain; for there
is reason to conclude, that the pride of that
court will be less hurt by treating with the
American states for terms of peace, than with

8ti COMMON SENSE

those, whom she denominates "rebellious sub-
jects,'* for terms of accommodation. It is our
delaying in that, encourages her to hope for
conquest, and our backwardness tends only to
prolong the war. As we have, without any
good effect therefrom, withheld our trade to
obtain a redress of our grievances, let us now
try the alternative, by independantly redress-
ing them ourselves, and then offering to open
the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part
of England, will be still with us; because,
peace, with trade, is preferable to war without
it. And if this offer be not accepted, other
courts may be applied to.

On these grounds I rest the matter. And
as no offer hath yet been made to refute the
doctrine contained in the former editions of
this pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that
either the doctrine cannot be refuted, or, that
the party in favor of it are too numerous to be
opposed. WHEREFORE, instead of gazing at each
other with suspicious or doubtful curiosity, let
each of us hold out to his neighbor the hearty
hand of friendship, and unite in drawing a line,
which, like an act of oblivion, shall bury in
forgetfulness every former dissention. Let the
names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let
none other be heard among us, than those of a
good citizen; an open and resolute friend; and
a virtuous supporter of the RIGHTS OF MAN-
KIND, and of the FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES
OF AMERICA.

TEN CENT POCKET SERIES

87

Other Titles in Pocket Series

Drama

255 King Lear.
256 Venus and Adonis.

316 Prometheus Bound.

257 King Henry IV,

Aeschylos.

Part I.

90 The Mikado. Gilbert.

258 King Henry IV.

295 Master Builder. Ibsen.

Part II.

308 She Stoops to Conquer, i

249 Julius Caesar.

Oliver Goldsmith.

250 Romeo and Juliet.

134 The Misanthrope.

259 King Henry VI.

Moliere.

Part I.

99 Tartuffe. Moilere.

260 King Henry VI.

16 Ghosts. Henrik Ibsen.

Part II.

80 Pillars of Society.

261 King Henry VI.

Ibsen.

Part III.

46 Salome. Oscar Wilde.

262 Comedy of Errors.

54 Importance of Being

263 King John.

Earnest. 0. Wilde.

264 King Richard III.

8 Lady Windermere's

265 King Richard II.

Fan. Oscar Wilde.

267 Pericles.

131 Redemption. Tolstoi.

268 Merchant of Venice.

31 Pelleas and Melisande.

Maeterlinck.

Fiction

226 Prof. Bernhardi.

Schnitzler.

143 In the Time of the

Shakespeare's Plays

Terror. Balzac.

240 The Tempest.

280 Happy Prince and

241 Merry Wives of Wind-

Other Tales. Wilde.

sor.

182 Daisy Miller. Henry

242 As You Like It.

James.

243 Twelfth Night.

162 The Murders in The

244 Much Ado About

Rue Morgue and Other

Nothing.

Tales. Edgar Allan

245 Measure for Measure.

Poe.

246 Hamlet.

345 Clarimonde. Gautier.

247 Macbeth.

292 Mademoiselle Fifi.

248 King Henry V.

De Maupassant.

251 Midsummer Night's

199 The Tallow Ball. De

Dream.

Maupassant.

252 Othello, The Moor of

6 De Maupassant's

Venice.

Stories.

253 King Henry VIH.

15 Balzac's Stories.

254 The Taming of the

344 Don Juan and Other

Shrew.

Stories. Balzac.

TEN CENT POCKET SERIES

318 Christ in Flanders and

37 Dream of John Ball.

Other Stories. Balzac.

William Morris.

230 The Fleece of Gold.

40 House and the Brain.

Theophile Gautier.

Bulwer Lytton.

178 One of Cleopatra's
Nights. Gautier.

72 Color of Life.
E. Haldeman-Julius.
198 Majesty of Justice.

314 Short Stories. Daudet.

Anatole France.

68 Boccaccio's Stories.

215 The Miraculous Re-

45 Tolstoi's Short Stories.

venge. Bernard Shaw.

12 Poe's Tales of Mystery.

24 The Kiss and Other

290 The Gold Bug. Edgar

Stories. Chekhov.

Allan Poe.

285 Euphorian in Texas.

145 Great Ghost Stories.

George Moore.

21 Carmen. Merimee.

219 The Human Tragedy.

23 Great Stories of the

Anatole France.

Sea.

196 The Marquise. George

319 Comtesse de Saint-

Sand.

Gerane. Dumas.

239 Twenty-Six Men and a

38 Dr. Jekyll and Mr.

Girl. Gorki.

Hyde. Stevenson.

29 Dreams. Olive

279 Will o' the Mill;

Schreiner.

Markheim. Stevenson.

232 The Three Strangers.

311 A Lodging for the

Thomas Hardv

Night. Stevenson.

277 The Man Without a

27 Last Days of a Con-

• Country. E. E. Hale.

demned Man. Hugo.
151 Man Who Would Be
King. Kipling.

History, Biography

148 Strength of the Strong.

324 Life of Lincoln. Bowers.

London.

312 Life and Works of Lau-

41 Christmas Carol.

rence Sterne. Gunn.

Dickens.

328 Addison and His Times.

57 Rip Van Winkle.

Finger.

Irving.

323 The Life of Joan of

100 Red Laugh. Andreyev.

Arc.

105 Seven That Were

339 Thoreau — the Man

Hanged. Andreyev.

Who Escaped fro'ni the

102 Sherlock Holmes Tales.

Herd. Finger.

Conan Doyle.

126 History of Rome.

161 Country of the Blind.

A. F. Giles.

H. G. Wells.

128 Julius Caesar: Who

85 Attack on the Mill.

He Was.

158 Alice in Wonderland.

185 History of Printing.

Zola.

149 Historic Crimes and

156 Andersen's Fairy Tales.

Criminals. Finger.

TEN CENT POCKET SERIES

175 Science of History.

Fronde.
104 Battle of Waterloo.

Victor Hugo.

52 Voltaire. Victor Hugo.
125 War Speeches of

Woodrow Wilson.
22 Tolstoy: His Life and

Works.
142 Bismarck and the

German Empire.

286 When the Puritans
Were in Power.

343 Life of Columbus.
66 Crimes of the Borgias.
Dumas.

287 Whistler: The Man
and His Work.

51 Bruno: His Life and

Martyrdom.
147 Cromwell and His

Times.
236 State and Heart

Affairs of Henry VIII.
50 Paine's Common Sense.
88 Vindication of Paine.

Ingersoll.
33 Brann: Smasher of

Shams.
163 Sex Life in Greece and

Rome.

214 Speeches of Lincoln.
276 Speeches and Letters

of Geo. Washington.
144 Was Poe Immoral?

Whitman.

223 Essay on Swinburne.
227 Keats, The Man and

His Work.
150 Lost Civilizations.

Finger.
170 Constantine and the

Beginnings of Christi-
anity.
201 Satan and the Saints.

G7 Church History.
H. M. Tichenor.
169 Voices' From the Past.
266 Life of Shakespeare
and Analysis of His
Plays.
123 Life of Madame Du

Barry.

139 Life of Dante.
69 Life of Mary, Queen

of Scots. Dumas.
5 Life of Samuel
it* i,ohnson- Macaulay.
174 Trial of William Perm.

Humor

291 Jumping Frog and

Other Humorous Talcs

Mark Twain.
18 Idle Thoughts of an
T«« -*dle Fellow. Jeromo.
166 English as She Is

Spoke. Mark Twain.
231 Eight Humorous

Sketches. Mark Twai:i
205 Artemus Ward. His

Book.

187 Whistler's Humor.
216 Wit of Heinrich Heine

George Eliot.
20 Let's Laugh. Nasby

Literature

278 Friendship and Other

Essays. Thoreau.
195 Thoughts on Nature.

Thoreau.
194 Lord Chesterfield's

Letters.
63 A Defense of Poetw

Shelley.
97 Love Letters of King

Henry VIII.
3 Eighteen Essays.
Voltaire.

TEN CENT POCKET SERIES

90

28 Toleration. Voltaire.
89 Love Letters of Men

and Women of Genius.
186 How I wrote "The

Raven". Poe.
87 Love, an Essay.

Montaigne.
48 Bacon's Essays.

60 Emerson's Essays.
84 Love Letters of a

Portuguese Nun.
26 On Going to Church.

G. B. Shaw.

135 Socialism for Million-
aires. G. B. Shaw.

61 Tolstoi's Essays.

176 Four Essays.
Havelock Ellis.

160 Lecture on Shakes-
peare. Ingersoll.

75 Choice of Books.
Carlyle.

288 Essays on Chesterfield
and Rabelais.
Sainte-Beuve.

76 The Prince of Peace.
W. J. Bryan.

86 On Reading. Brandes.
95 Confessions of An

Opium Eater.
213 Lecture on Lincoln.
Ingersoll.

177 Subjection of Women.
John Stuart Mill.

17 On Walking. Thoreau.
70 Charles Lamb's Essays.
235 Essays. Gilbert K.

Chesterton.
7 A Liberal Education.

Thomas Huxley.
233 Thoughts on Literature

and Art. Goethe.
225 Condescension in

Foreigners. Lowell.
221 Women, and Other
Essays. Maeterlinck.

10 Shelley. Francis

Thompson.
289 Pepys' Diary.
299 Prose Nature Notes.

Walt Whitman.
315 Pen, Pencil and Poison.

Oscar Wilde.
313 The Decay of Lying.

Oscar Wilde.
36 Soul of Man Under

Socialism. 0. Wilde.
293 Francois Villon:

Student, Poet and

Housebreaker. R. L.

Stevenson.

Maxims and Epigrams

179 Gems from Emerson.
77 What Great Men Have

Said About Women.
304 What Great Women

Have Said About Men.
310 The Wisdom of

Thackeray.
193 Wit and Wisdom of

Charles Lamb.
56 Wisdom of Ingersoll.
106 Aphorisms. George

Sand.
168 Epigrams. Oscar

Wilde.
59 Epigrams of Wit and

Wisdom.
35 Maxims.

Rochefoucauld.

154 Epigrams of Ibsen.
197 Witticisms and Re-
flections. De Sevigne.

180 Epigrams of George
Bernard Shaw.

155 Maxims. Napoleon.

181 Epigrams. Thoreau.
228 Aphorisms. Huxley.

113 Proverbs of England.

114 Proverbs of France.

I

TEN CENT POCKET SEDIES

115 Proverbs of Japan.

116 Proverbs of China.

117 Proverbs of Italy.

118 Proverbs of Russia.

119 Proverbs of Ireland.

120 Proverbs of Spain.

121 Proverbs of Arabia.

Philosophy, Religion

159 A Guide to Plato. Du-

rant.

322 The Buddhist Philoso-
phy of Life.

347 A Guide to Stoicism.
124 Theory of Reincarna-
tion Explained.
157 Plato's Republic.
62 Schopenhauer's Essays.
94 Trial and Death of

Socrates.
65 Meditations of

Marcus Aurelius.
64 Rudolf Eucken: His

Life and Philosophy.
4 Age of Reason. Thomas

Paine.
55 Herbert Spencer: His

Life and Works.
44 Aesop's Fables.
165 Discovery of the Fu-
ture. H. G. Wells.
96 Dialogues of Plato.
325 Essence of Buddhism.
103 Pocket Theology.

Voltaire.

132 Foundations of Re-
ligiOM.

138 Studies in Pessimism.
Schopenhauer.

211 Idea of God in Na-
ture. John Stuart
Mill.

212 Life and Character.
Goethe.

200 Ignorant Philosopher.
Voltaire.

101 Thoughts of Pascal.
210 The Stoic Philosophy.

Prof. G. Murray.
224 God: Known and

Unknown. Butler.
19 Nietzsche: Who he

Was and What He

Stood For.
204 Sun Worship and

Later Beliefs.

Tichenor.
207 Olympian Gods.

H. M. Tichenor.
184 Primitive Beliefs.
153 Chinese Philosophy of

Life.
30 What Life Means to

Me. Jack London.

Poetry

152 The Kasidah. Burton.
317 L 'Allegro and Other
Poems. Milton.

283 Courtship of Miles
Standish. Longfellow.

282 Rime of Ancient Mar-
iner. Coleridge.

297 Poems. Robert
Southey.

329 Dante's inferno,
Volume 1.

330 Dante's Inferno,
Volume 2.

306 A Shropshire Lad,
Housman.

284 Poems of Robert
Burns.

1 Rubaiyat of Omar
Khayyam.

73 Walt: Whitman's
Poems.

2 Wilde's Ballad of
Reading Jail.

32 Poe's Poems.
164 Michael Angelo'a
Sonnets.

TEN CENT POCKET SERIES

71 Poems of Evolution.
146 Snow-Bound. Pied

Piper.

9 Great English Poems.
79 Enoch Arden.

Tennyson.

08 Shakespeare's Son-
nets.
281 Lays of Ancient Rome.

Macaulay.
173 Vision of Sir Launfal.

Lowell.
222 The Vampire and

Other Poems. Kipling.

237 Prose Poems.
Baudelaire.

Science

321 A History of Evolution.
Fenton.

827 The Ice Age. Finger.

217 The Puzzle of Person-
ality; a Study in
Psycho-Analysis.
Fielding.

190 Psycho-Analysis — The
Key to Human Be-
havior. Fielding.

140 Biology and Spiritual

Philosophy.
275 The Building of the

Earth. C. L. Fenton.
v 49 Three Lectures on

Evolution. Haeckel.
42 Origin of the Human

Race.

238 Reflections on Mod-
ern Science. Huxley.

202 Survival of the Fittest.
H. M. Tichenor.

191 Evolution vs. Religion.
Balmforth.

133 Electricity Made Plain.
92 Hypnotism Made
Plain.

53 Insects and Men:

Instinct and Reason.
189 Eugenics. Havelock
Ellis.

Series of Debates

11 Debate on Religion.
39 Did Jesus Ever Live?

130 Controversy on Chris-
tianity. Ingersoll and
Gladstone.

43 Marriage and Divorce.
Horace Greeley and
Robert Owen.

208 Debate on Birth Con-
trol. Mrs. Sanger and
Winter Russell.

129 Rome or Reason.

Ingersoll and Manning.

122 Spiritualism. Conan
Doyle and McCabe.

171 Has Life Any Mean-
ing? Frank Harris
and Percy Ward.

206 Capitalism vs. Social-
, ism. Seligman and

Nearing,

13 Is Free Will a Fact or
a Fallacy?

234 McNeal-Sinclair De-
bate on Socialism.

141 Would Practice of
Christ's Teachings
Make for Social
Progress ? Nearing
and Ward.

Miscellaneous

326 Hints on Writing

Short Stories. Finger.
192 Book of Synonyms.
25 Rhyming Dictionary.
78 How to Be an Orator.
82 Common Faults in
Writing English.

TEN CENT POCKET SERIES

127 What Expectant

Mothers Should Know.
SI Care of the Baby.
!:•:*; Child Training.
137 Home Nursing.
14 What Every Girl Should

Know. Mrs. Sanger.
;: t Case for Birth Control.
91 Manhood: Facts of
Life Presented to
Men.

83 Marriage: Past.
Present and Future.
Besant.
74 On Threshold of Sex.

98 How to Love.
172 Evolution of Love.

Ellen Key.
203 Rights of Women.

Havelock Ellis.
209 Aspects of Birth

trol. Medical, Moi

Sociological.
93 How to Live 100

Years.
167 Plutarch's Rules ni

Health.
320 The Prince.,

Machiavelli.

eui

LIFE AND

monthly magazine.

1ND LET-

ycu in a

It takea

: person. :li as

:. Thoreau,

Darvrin — and gives a comprehensive report of

•n's lue and achievements. The dominat-

is usually about 15,000 words long.

—twelve issues — only $1.00 in U. S.;

; Foreign. LIFE AND LET-

D, KANSAS.

"HALDEMM-JULIUS WEEKLY"

HALDEMAN- JULIUS T7EEKI '-

Julius, aims ; of ore its

ers e >orts of th-3 VvorhVs achievements

ta, politics and
:a eudeavor. The
XLY brings to its
Je world

and Foreign.
•JULIUS WEEKLY, GIRARD, K

" THYSELF

THYSELF is a monthly magazine

.im J. Fielding and E. Haldeman-

is to sup-

Made In U. S. A.